Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends
by Slave To Noah
Summary: A new Demon Battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, WHO WILL WIN? Accepting Fan Mamodo. First Arc Over!
1. Aisu vs Faia

Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends

Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.

Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.

* * *

"**_SERUGO!_**"

"**_GIKORU!_**"

Fire and ice clashed in mid-air. The ice was melted and the fireballs continues on their course towards the girl who launched the attack. The girl had long blue hair in a single braid down her back and light blue eyes. She wore a short dress the doubled as a long shirt. The dress/shirt was blue with black flowers exploding in it. She wore black leggings underneath with black high-tops with blue detail. The boy behind her wasn't much older than she was, and the team jumped aside to avoid the fireballs.

The source of the fireballs was a boy dressed in black- black T-shirt, black pants, black shoes. He was also wearing a hooded cloak that was black with silver edging. He had spikey red hair and deep, black eyes (A/N: Just because his cloak had a hood, doesn't mean the hood was up). His partner was a man in his late 20s.

"Heh, I knew I had found someone from the Aisu Clan when I saw your hair and eyes. You should have run when you had the chance. I won't let you leave until I burn your book," the younger boy said.

"Aisu Clan?" The young boy behind the girl said. "Is that your family, Ranmyaku?"

"Yeah. A Clan of demons the specialize in ice techniques," the blue haired girl-Ranmyaku- said. "And judging by his appearance, he is probably from the Faia Clan."

"Very perceptive. Yes, I am Tsuine of the Faia Clan. But that won't be of much use to you in a few seconds. Quinton!"

"**_Serugo!_**"

The boy-Tsuine of Faia- lifted his hands out of his cloak as several fireballs shot out of his hands. Ranmyaku gasped and jumped back with her partner.

"Asuru!" Ranmyku shouted.

"Huh? Oh, right! **_Gikoru!_**" Ranmyaku opened her mouth as three large ice shards came out of her mouth.

"**_Seruuga!_**"

_'WHAT?! 'Seruuga?!' They have a second spell too?!' _Ranmyaku and Asuru thought at the same time. Tsuine was engulfed in fire, but he didn't appear to be hurt by it. He spun his hand over his head, churning some of the fire into a whip-like shape. He then held his hand in front of him, his fire whip holding in front of him as well. Tsuine lashed out at the ice shards, destroying them easily.

"This could be a problem, Asuru"

"Yeah, but maybe we still have a chance."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"We have a second spell too, remember?"

"That's right! Furizudo!"

"Just get as close to the bookeeper as possible, and I'll read furizudo."

"Gotcha."

Ranmyaku left her partner as she ran towards the other team. Neither looked threatened by this gutsy act. The man once again opened his book "**_Serudo!_**" Fireballs shot out at her, and she dodged all but one of them. The one that hit hit her square in the stomach, tossing her back a bit.

"Ranmyaku!"

"I'm alright..."

"Not for long! Quinton, cast Seruuga!"

Ranmyaku stood and charged once more. She got close to Tsuine

"**_Seruuga!_**"

As Tsuine prepared to whip Ranmyaku she moved and was right in front of his bookeeper. _'What?! Quinton? She's going to attack my human?'_ The whip as well as the fire surrounding Tsuine disappeared. Quinton stepped back, hoping that the 'Gikoru' spell wasn't coming.

"**_Furizudo!_**"

Cold air came from her mouth. This cold began to engulf the bookeeper, freezing him slowly from his feet up. The man began to struggle and yell, the ice was creeping up his fingers, and began to cover his hands and the book. Up his arms, past his elbows nearing his shoulders.

"What the- YOU BITCH! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"

"She can't talk right now," Tsuine's attention went to Asuru, standing several yards away. "Furizudo, well, freezes. It would be useless to use it on you, but if you partner is frozen, not only can he not read a spell, but if you don't surrender his heart will freeze."

"Ah-AHHHH!" The spell creeped up his throat.

"QUINTON! READ A SPELL, DAMMIT!"

"S-ser-**_Serud-_**" The ice covered his mouth, and it began to near his nose. Once his nose was covered, if ice didn't kill him, the inability to breathe certainly would.

"Grrr... FINE! I-I... I surrender!" Tsuine said. Asuru closed his book and the spell was stopped. Ranmyaku placed her hand on the ice, and it seemed to receed back, slinking down to his chest. Ranmyaku stopped and walked back to her partner who left the scene.

"**_Serudo!_**" Quinton said. Tsuine controled to power of the fire and began to melt the ice surrounding his bookeeper. "Do you want to get them while their walking way? One good hit would have that book in flames!" Quinton opened the book to the page that contained Seruuga. The book began to glow.

Tsuine turned and began to walk in the opposite direction. "No. Leave them be. I've surrendered already; this is a loss for us."

Quinton looked at the warrior of Faia. "You surrendered to save me. Thank you."

"Don't get the wrong idea. I only did it because if you froze to death the there is no way I'd ever become king."

Half an hour later, the team of Asuru and Ranmyaku walked into the apartment they shared. The blonde haired, green eyed Asuru sat on the couch and ran his hand through his hair. Ranmyaku sat beside him, leaning on his shoulder. The ice mamodo was ten years old, and her partner was thirteen.

"Asuru?"

"Yeah?"

"Were you really going to freeze that guy-Quinton I think his name was?"

"Of course not. I figured that if that demon had any sense at all he wouldn't have let his partner freeze to death. Glad he had sense, right?"

"Yeah. I didn't want to freeze him."

"By the way, it seems that Tsuine guy as a personal problem with you. Why?"

"I don't think it's with me personally, but for as long as either clans exsisted, the Aisu and Faia Clans have always hated each other. Exactly why, not even the oldest demons in either Clan can remember, but whatever it was, it's weathered hundreds of generations. We're just expected to fight and hate each other, and any generation that refuses to do so is considered a traitor, and their power is taken away."

"So, if you two don't fight and hate each other, then your power is stolen?"

"I said 'taken away', not 'stolen'," Ranmyaku corrected him. "We are also expected to fight honorably, which is why he didn't attack us while we were walking away. If we don't fight honorably, then our power is also take away."

"Hah. So, you Faia and Aisu fighters have got it rough, huh? While all the other demons are fighting using dirty tricks and cheap shots, you guys have to fight honorably."

"Yeah, pretty much." Ranmyaku yawned loudly and closed her eyes. Withina few minutes, the demon child was asleep. Asuru smiled and rubbed the young demon's back. _'Sleep tight, Ranmyaku, my friend.'_


	2. The Past

Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends

Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.

Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.

(A/N: _'thoughts', _**_SPELLS, _**"talking", flashbacks, _"the person speaking on the other end of the phone")_

* * *

Chapter 2: The Past

The next morning Asuru woke up and began to get ready for school. When he was done getting ready, he went into the living room find that Ranmyaku was still asleep. He crept past her into the kitchen to make breakfast for them both. The young demon was always tired after battles these days. He turned on the stove and began to cook some eggs and bacon for himself. When he was done with that, he went into the basement, which was still cold despite the fact that is was springtime.

He took out a large, frozen fish. He carried it up stairs and set it on the table. The fish looked petrified, just like how it did when Ranmyaku caught the poor thing three days ago.

"Going to school?"

"Yup."

"Can I go?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because you're not old enough."

Ranmyaku stomped her foot. "But I want to go! You never let me go to school with you!"

"That's because you aren't old enough. Now eat your frozen fish, so I can get going."

Ranmyaku took the fish off the table and sat on the floor with it. She opened her mouth wide, and as she was about to take a bite, Asuru said: "Sit at the table."

Ranmyaku grumbled and climbed on a chair. She held the fish inches from her mouth and bit into it. She began a feeding frenzy she munched on the fish and was at the middle of the fish in no time. By the time Asuru was done, Ranmyaku was chewing on the bones. Asuru pulled the fish skeleton out of Ranmyaku's mouth and threw it into the trash. The Ice Demon pouted.

"I'll be home by 4 o'clock. I have the book, and if you have any problems, or get attacked, just call my cell and I'll be right there. Okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just get going already. Your principal will be really mad if you're late again."

Asuru nodded and left the apartment. _'It's been 1 month since I found Ranmyaku. It's been hard getting used to having someone else in my apartment. She doesn't act like the demons from the stories; she acts like a normal ten-year-old kid. A ten year old kid that can spit icicles out of her mouth. I can still remember what happened that fateful day…'_

-flashback-

Asuru was walking home from school. He thought that he should get some food for dinner. When Asuru went in the store, he had no idea what was awaiting him outside of the store. After he had bought the ingredients for his dinner, he left the store. He saw a young girl, sweating hard. He found this strange, because it was early spring, and rather cold.

"Hey, are you okay? You look tired. Do you want something cold to drink?"

The girl looked up at him. "Yes. Something ice cold if you don't mind." The girl had hypnotic light blue eyes, and-strangely enough-blue hair. _'It's probably just dye'_ Asuru thought.

"Okay. After that, we can find your parents and take you home." The girl stood up and walked with Asuru to the ice-cream parlor. It was air-conditioned here, and, to the best of Asuru's knowledge, they had the coldest water. He bought a 20 fl oz bottle of water and gave it to the girl. She had a book open in front of her. He looked at a book. It appeared to be written in some strange language that he had never seen before.

"Hey little girl," Asuru and the girl looked up at the boy who said that. He was a kid that Asuru recognized as Chad, a boy from the soccer team. There was a younger boy beside him, with short black hair and yellow eyes. He was wearing a shirt with a soccer ball pattern on it, with blue shorts and green shoes. Asuru found only one thing about this boy strange: that he had lines from his eyes to either side of his chin.

"Chad? What are you doing here? And who's the kid?" Chad didn't say anything. He appeared to be mesmerized by the book. The girl had closed the book and was holding it close to her chest.

"Hey, Ranmyaku, it's been such a long time since we've last seen each other, hasn't it?"

"What do you want Ro-ru?" The girl they had called Ranmyaku said.

"I'm insulted, Ranmyaku. Aren't you happy to see your old friend?"

"You were never my friend!"

The boy looked ticked off by this remark. He snapped his fingers. "Let's make this chick remember, Chad!"

Chad took out a light brown book, identical to Ranmyaku's in every way, except his book was brown and her book was a deep shade of blue. "Ro-ru, not here-there are too many humans here!"

"You're right. Bring your bookkeeper outside, and we'll finish this in near the river." Ro-ru said and he and Chad left the ice-cream parlor.

"What was-"

"Can you read anything in this book?" She suddenly asked Asuru. Asuru took the book and flipped through the pages. He couldn't read anything in the book besides two lines of text.

"I can read these two lines. It says, Giko-"

"Not here!" She said. "Come with me. You know that demon's bookkeeper, don't you?"

"Demon? Bookkeeper? What are you talking about?" Asuru asked.

"I can't really explain now. For now, you'll just have to come with me."

Asuru agreed to follow Ranmyaku to the river, where Chad and Ro-ru were waiting. The brown book was open, and kid was in some sort of battle stance.

"Open the book to the first spell," Ranmyaku said.

"What?" Asuru said, confused.

"The lines of text you can read."

"Oh, okay," Asuru opened the book to the page that help the lines of blue text that was a different color.

"**_BREKURU!_**" Chad shouted. The boy beside him coiled himself up into a ball. He was rolling towards Ranmyaku and Asuru at an insane speed, tearing up some earth as he went. Asuru was in awe. He had never seen anything like it before in his life.

"The spell! Read the spell!" Ranmyaku shouted.

"Oh! Uh… **_Gikoru!_**" Ranmyaku opened her mouth as large shards of ice shot from her mouth. The ice landed right in front of the speeding Ro-ru, forcing him to stop and being forced back by his own speed.

"Whoa…" Asuru said. "You did that?"

"It came out of my mouth, didn't it? And no, I didn't do that. You did that." Asuru looked at the text.

"Ah, CHAD! Stop messing around! More power!" Ro-ru shouted at Chad.

"Shut it, you damn brat! You already know this chick, so you should know her spells! Think before you go charging in! **_BREKURU!_**"

"Here it comes again!"

"No problem! Gikoru!" Nothing happened. "Huh? What's going on? I said, GIKORU!" Still nothing. "Ranmyaku, what's going on?"

"The book responds to raw emotion. Put some emotion into-ah, AHHHHH!" Ranmyaku had been hit by the speeding Ro-ru, and landed a good distance away.

"Pay attention to your opponent, Ranmyaku," Ro-ru said. The girl began to stand. Her knees were facing inward, as her arms were covering her stomach.

"The-the spell… use Gikoru…"

"But what if it doesn't work?" Asuru said.

"If you put your heart into it, it'll work…" Chad casted 'Brekuru' again, and Ro-ru was speeding towards her again. "Do… it…"

"Please work…" Asuru whispered. "**_GIKORU!_**" Ranmyaku's mouth opened, but nothing came out. "No…" He whispered.

"Aha! Hahaha!" Ro-ru laughed. "You got stuck with the most unreliable-AHH!" Ro-ru was forced back once more by the Gikoru spell that had erupted from the ground.

"No, I got stuck with a good human. I've only know him for a few hours and he already cares for me. I bet you've known Chad for weeks and he doesn't even like you!" Ranmyaku said. "That's why I'm going to beat you!"

"HA! That's funny." Ro-ru said. He looked pretty busted up. Apparently, his speed was doing more damage than good. "This battle isn't about friendship or relationship, or any of that worthless crap! It's about being the toughest and annihilating the competition without mercy! Chad! Let's mow them down!"

"Impatient little… **_Brekuru!_**" Ro-ru was going faster than before. Asuru looked at the spell.

"**_Gikoru!_**" The shards came out of the ground sooner this time. Ro-ru was slowed down, but not stopped. The shards began to crack, and Ro-ru was speeding towards them. Ro-ru rammed into Ranmyaku hard, and she was flung farther back. "Ranmyaku!"

"Ha! Didn't I tell you that was a bunch of worthless crap?"

"Brat!" Chad yelled from across the field.

"What?!" Ro-ru said angrily.

"Their book!" Ro-ru looked at Ranmyaku's book. A strong light that grew stronger by the minute was being emitted from it. Ranmyaku was covered in the same energy.

"What… is… this light?"

"It's a new spell!" Ranmyaku said. "Read it!"

'No! How could they have gotten a new spell after such a short time?! I've been battling for much longer, and I'm still on my first spell!' "CHAD!"

"**_BREKURU!_**"

"It doesn't matter what that spell is, I'll mow it down!" Ro-ru said, rolling towards them.

"The second spell, **_Furizudo!_**" A light mist came from Ranmyaku's mouth, and Ro-ru's rolling body began to freeze. Slowly but surely, he became encased in ice, until he was frozen in place.

"Hey, Asuru, do you have a lighter on you?" Ranmyaku asked. Asuru shook his head.

"I do," Chad said, showing them the lighter.

"Chad, you bastard! Don't you dare give them that lighter! Or my book!"

"Don't worry Ro-ru, I won't," Chad said. He lit the lighter.

"What are you doing?"

Chad held the corner of the book over the fire. The flames jumped onto the book and created light brown flames.

"NO! CHAD YOU BASTARD!" The demon named Ro-ru began to disappear. "I'll never become king now! But this is fine. Because I'm sure that a weak demon like Ranmyaku won't make it any farther in the battle! And I'll be able to get my revenge in the Demon World, by Brekuru-ing the shit out of you!" And the demon disappeared.

-End of flashback-

_'After that, she told me about the battle to become king, and we've been fighting ever since. She said that the throne of the previous king had been usurped by the king's brother using the 101st demon book's power of suppression. I'm not so sure I understand, but maybe it's for the best. I can't deal with any more unnatural stuff.'_


	3. Demon On The Mountain

Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends

Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.

Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.

(A/N: _'thoughts', _**_SPELLS, _**"talking", flashbacks, _"the person speaking on the other end of the phone")_

* * *

Chapter 3: Demon on the Mountain.

"Hey Asuru, going to school?" Ranmyaku asked during breakfast.

"Not today."

"Ranmyaku seemed surprised. "Why not? Skipping school today?"

"No, it's just that today is Saturday and I don't have school today."

"OH! So you can stay home and play with me, right?" Ranmyaku asked happily.

"Actually, some friends from school invited me to go camping with them. So I'm going to be spending my weekend camping. You don't mind do you?" Asuru said.

"Nope! You can go camping with your friends, as long as you weren't planning on leaving me behind!" Ranmyaku said grinning. Asuru chuckled and patted her head. She was only about a shoulder shorter than him, but she didn't mind the gesture.

"I wouldn't dream of it! Why don't you go and get ready-they'll be here in about an hour," Asuru said.

"Alright! Going camping! I've never gone camping before!" Ranmyaku said. "But Asuru, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't humans normally go camping in the summer?"

"Yeah, but we also have to do a project for art class about natural art. I'm going to take photos, Ai is going to do the report, and Juu is going to draw. The mountains are beautiful in the spring, and-"

"MOUNTAINS?!" Ranmyaku shouted happily. "You're going to the MOUNTAINS!?"

"Yeah, why, something wrong with that?"

"No! That's totally awesome! I was born and raised on the top of a mountain!"

"Ah, I should have known by the way you reacted. We're not going to actually climb the mountain, though. We might hike up to get some photos of the lake and birds, but we're not climbing to the summit."

"Oh," Ranmyaku said. She seemed disappointed by this latest development. "Ah well. That's cool too!"

Asuru smiled. "That's good. Now, get ready like I told you."

One hour later, the Ai and Juu knocked on the door. Ai was a girl with short black hair and pretty blue eyes. She wore glasses and was wearing an orange shirt and jeans, with white sneakers. Juu was a boy with messy brown hair with a bandanna on his head. He had milky brown eyes, and wore a hooded sweatshirt with baggy shorts and red shoes. Both of them knew about demons and demon battles, but neither of them had demons themselves.

"Hey Asuru, hey Ranmyaku, are you guys ready to go get some pictures? Are you guys ready to ride in a car for 2 hours to get to the mountain?" Juu shouted unnecessarily loud.

"Have you guys been in any battles lately?" Ai asked.

"Yeah, we just fought this demon named Tsuine. We'll tell you about it on the way there," Asuru said.

"Yeah, we'll tell you about how I kicked his butt!" Ranmyaku said proudly, thumping her chest.

"So you sent another one back to the Demon World?" Juu asked.

"Nope. He surrendered."

"'Atta girl!" Juu said, gently punching her shoulder.

Ai rolled her eyes. "Juu, my Dad can't keep the car running forever! Let's go, already!" Juu turned and grinned.

"Okay, fine. Let's go guys, before Ai's Dad's car get sick of waiting." Ranmyaku chuckled as they climbed into the van. Asuru started.

"Well, me and Ranmyaku were just walking along, when this demon uses this fireball spell on us!"

2 hours later, the kids, demon, and Dad got out of the car and stretched. The fresh mountain air was crisp, and it felt rich and clean when it filled their lungs. Asuru walked towards Ranmyaku, who was marveling at the mountain, craning her head back trying to see the top. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Not really. The one I live on is a lot taller," Ranmyaku said.

"Are you sure, Ranmyaku? If someone lived on a mountain this high, they'd probably develop altitude sickness," Ai's Dad said.

"Not really. When I first came down the mountain, I felt really sluggish and hot. But after a while I kind of got used to it. The problem is going back up. But I'm sure I'll get adjusted to that as well." Ranmyaku neared the mountain and placed her foot on it. She then placed her other foot in front of the first, as she walked up the mountain, slowly but surely.

"What are you doing? Get down here!" Ai's Dad yelled. Ranmyaku ignored him, and continued up the mountain.

"She'll be fine, Yuki-san. She's spent her whole life on a mountain. She knows how to fend for herself," Asuru said as it became harder and harder to see the young demon girl. "Ranmyaku, be down here by nightfall, or we're going up to search for you!"

"Alright, I'll be back before then!"

"While Ranmyaku is investigating the mountain, how about we get started on that art project?" Juu suggested. The boy had taken out his sketch book and opened it to a clean page. He sat on the grass and began to draw.

"Good idea!" Ai said. She opened the door to the van and opened a book on her lap. A notebook was open beside her as she alternated between reading and writing. Asuru ran back a good deal before lifting up his digital camera. He snapped a photo of the mountain, and looked at the picture. He then gasped.

"What? What happened-did something happen to the camera, Asuru?" Juu asked.

"No, but something weird certainly happened," Asuru said. "Look. The mountain looks normal now. But watch when I zoom out." Asuru pushed a button on the camera, and it zoomed out of the picture. The sun came into focus, and Ai and Juu gasped too. The trees in a part of the mountain had darker leaves, which was visible.

The trees created the same pattern as on the demon's book.

"M-maybe it's just a coincidence," Ai said. She knew in her heart that it wasn't.

"No, this is something that was intended. There's a demon on that mountain." Asuru said grimly.

"Do you think that Ranmyaku knows?" Juu asked.

"She probably does. That's probably why she was so determined to go up the mountain."

"We have to go up there. She could be in trouble-" Ai said, when Asuru' cell phone rang.

"Hello? Ranmyaku, is that you?"

_"Yeah it's me."_

"Listen to me there's probably a demon on that mountain!"

_"I know."_

"What? How do you know?"

_"Because I found him."_

Cliffhanger! Please review. It would mean the world to me.


	4. Honzou, The Gardener Demon

Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends

Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.

Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.

(A/N: _'thoughts', _**_SPELLS, _**"talking", flashbacks, _"the person speaking on the other end of the phone")_

* * *

Chapter 4: Honzou, the Gardener Demon.

"What? Ranmyaku, you found the demon?"

_"Yeah, he looks tired and hurt."_

"Do you see a bookkeeper there?"

_"I don't think he has one. I see his book, it's dark green."_

"So, he's no threat to us?"

_"No. As a matter of fact, it might be possible that Juu or Ai will get a demon today. I'll bring him down to the campsite, okay?"_

"You do that. Be careful."

A grunt was heard. _"Yeah. I'll… be down in a… minute… Man, this guy is small but heavy!"_ Ranmyaku hung up.

"So, the demon isn't a threat?" Ai asked.

"No. She says the demon doesn't have a bookkeeper. Cross your fingers, one of you might get a demon," Asuru said.

Ranmyaku came down the mountain half-an-hour later with a boy on her back. He had messy green hair and green clothes. Even his shoes were green. His eyes were closed, but he had eyes like Ro-ru, only he had two lines under each eye instead of one. His dark green book was under Ranmyaku's shoulder as she neared the campsite. Asuru, Juu, and Ai walked near the two. Ranmyaku put the boy down. He had multiple wounds all over his body.

_'He's adorable!' _Ai thought. _'Too cute!'_

_'He looks tough!'_ Juu thought. _'Sweet!'_

"Urg…" The boy said as he opened his eyes. They were a deep shade of green. "Where am I? Who are you people?"

"I'm Ranmyaku. I found you unconscious on the mountain. This is my partner, Asuru."

"P-partner?!" The boy was suddenly frightened. He grabbed his book which Ranmyaku had left on the ground and held it close to his body. "You're going to try and burn my book like he did!"

"I'm an ice demon. I wouldn't be able to burn your book if I wanted to!" Ranmyaku said laughing. "Besides, if I wanted to burn your book, I would have done it on the mountain when I found you instead of going through all the trouble of carrying you down from the mountain!" The boy seemed to relax a little bit. "And if it's any relief, as a demon of the Aisu Clan, I'm not allowed to attack another demon without their bookkeeper."

The boy seemed to relax. "Okay. I'm Honzou. Pleased to meet you."

"I'm Juu."

"And I'm Ai."

"Hello." Honzou said.

"You know," Asuru said, getting closer to the demon child. "They don't have demons of their own."

Honzou stood up and gave his book to Juu first. Juu looked at the book and flipped through the pages. He couldn't read a single word. Juu sighed and shook his head. Honzou took his book and gave it to Ai. The girl flipped to the pages and stopped suddenly.

"_**Zamen**_," she read calmly, as seeds shaped like arrows came out of Honzou's hand. They became wedged deeply into a tree nearby. Ai began to jump for joy. "I have a demon! And a cute demon at that!"

Honzou walked over to the tree and put his forehead onto its bark. "I'm sorry, tree…" He whispered, and his arrow seeds were popped out as the wounds in the tree's bark began to heal.

"Wow," Ranmyaku said. "You control plants, don't you?"

"No, but it's something like that," Honzou said, and then he gasped. "Now that I have a human, you probably want to fight, don't you?" Ranmyaku shook her head.

"No. Ai is my friend. And Honzou is my friend too. Right?" She said and stretched out her hand. Honzou looked at her hand. He grabbed it.

"Yes. Ai, Juu, Asuru, and Ranmyaku are all my friends," he said and shook her hand.

"Good. We're allies now. You help me, and I'll help you," Ranmyaku said.

"Right," Honzou said happily.

"Hey! Ranmyaku! Honzou! Time to eat!" Asuru yelled. Ai was waving for Honzou to come over. 'Yes.' Honzou thought. 'They are all my special friends.'

The kids laughed for a good while before eating the hotdogs that had been cooking. Ranmyaku bit into hers and yelled because it was too hot. Honzou laughed, biting into his and then whining that is was burnt. Soon the moon was rising and Ai's Dad was in the van, sleeping. With her father asleep, the 3 kids plus 2 demons could talk without being overheard.

"Honzou, you said that someone was trying to burn your book. Who was it?" Asuru asked.

"I don't know. He said he was from the Ikimono Clan and that he was going to help his family by burning my book."

"What's the Ikimono Clan?" Juu asked.

"It's the largest clan in the Demon World. It contains demons that can turn into animals, animals that are demons and animals that can turn into demons. Many of the creatures in this Clan are animal demons," Ranmyaku said. "Since Zeon stole the throne from King Gash, many demons have found comfort in isolating themselves and others like them, so this whole 'clan' business is fairly new. However, the Ikimono Clan was far too large, so it's the only clan in the Demon World that remained wide-spread."

"That's right," Honzou said. "I'm from the Shinrin Clan, and members from the Ikimono Clan and Shinrin Clan have always lived in harmony-we need each other to survive. This is the first time anyone from either clan has acted like this."

Ai was deep in thought. "So, do you think that this guy is possibly an outsider from his clan because he dislikes the Shinrin Clan?"

"He probably dislikes a branch of the Shinrin Clan, but-"

"Wait, a branch?" Juu asked.

"Yeah, in the demon world the clans branch off into other clans. Actually, the Aisu Clan, which is what I'm from, is a branch from the Ekitai Clan. Do you think it's possible that he dislikes the Kinrui Branch of the Kusaki Clan-instead of the Shinrin Branch?"

"Ah, my head hurts…" Juu said holding his head.

"It makes sense. The Kinrui Branch is a branch of demons that have the power over fungi, and a lot of fungi are poisonous."

"This is very enlightening," they heard someone say. "But I'm afraid that I know what Clans I have a problem with, and it's Shinrin, not Kinrui."


	5. Aerial Assult

Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends

Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.

Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.

(A/N: _'thoughts', _**_SPELLS, _**"talking", flashbacks, _"the person speaking on the other end of the phone")_

* * *

Chapter 5: Aerial Assault

Everyone looked up to see a boy without any eye white-his eyes were totally red. He was covered from head to toe in brown fur, and he didn't wear a shirt. His pants, which were torn in several places, went down to his knees. His feet were clawed as were his hands. He had large, black, bat-like wings on his back. He appeared to be in his teens. Beside him was a man in his forties.

"I'm Koumori," The bat-boy said. "I don't want to hurt anybody, so just hand over your book peacefully, Honzou." Asuru took out Ranmyaku's book.

"Ai, get Honzou's book. This is going to be your first battle of many. Juu, get away from here. I don't want you to get caught in the cross-fire," Asuru said. Juu stood and walked behind the van, as Ai took out Honzou's spell book. She looked calm and collected.

"Aw, look at that. You have a bookkeeper this time. Good."

"_**Yamiuk!**_"

Koumori flew into the air and flapped his wings towards the two teams. Both of them were engulfed in a thick black mist, unable to see each other, and breathing was a tad difficult.

"He…used this on me… the first… time," Honzou said, coughing between words.

"Aw, he remembers me. Let's make sure he never forgets!"

"**_Daruku!"_**

Unable to see or breathe very well, both teams were both slashed as if they were in a blender. The black mist began to clear, and Koumori was watching from the air.

"What… was… that?" Ai asked, holding her arm.

"I… I don't know…" Asuru said, holding his stomach, one eyes closed in pain.

"Some type of drill attack, I think," Ranmyaku said, clutching her leg which was bleeding badly.

"Right," Honzou said. His green clothes were stained with blood, but he either didn't notice or didn't care. "While his opponents are struck unaware by the mist, he swoops in and tears through like a crazy spiral."

Koumori smirked, revealing his sharp teeth. "Your clan has caused my family a lot of grief. As nocturnal beasts, we eat mostly insects. However, those damned seed-happy Shinrin bastards are growing those trees faster than we can learn to navigate them!" Koumori appeared to be getting steadily angrier. "Because of the sudden appearance of those trees, it gets difficult to find our way to plentiful places to eat! My family grew malnourished because of this." He clenched his sharp teeth. Ranmyaku was amazed that his gums didn't start bleeding. "AND IT'S YOUR CLAN'S FAULT!"

He flew into the air, the moonlight illuminating his outline with its soft glow. "Honzou, I think he's going to use Daruku on us! Be prepared." Honzou nodded.

"**_Gikoru!_**" Ranmyaku opened her mouth and icicles shot from her mouth up to Koumori. He swerved around in the air, avoiding the attacks. "He's agile; I'll give him that…"

"**_Daruku!_**" He threw his arms over his shoulders, and snapped them back, causing him to spin. As he spun, he stuck his clawed hands out at the group, as he grew closer.

"Honzou, let's go! _**Zamen**_!" Honzou lifted his hands to the spinning Koumori. Arrow-shaped seeds shot at him, and, because he couldn't move in time, he was hit. The boy howled in pain, but before he could compose himself and begin spinning again, he began to freeze.

Asuru had launched 'Furizudo' while he was howling. The ice spread from his chest to his wings, causing him to fall to earth. It went down his abdomen and towards his legs, as the ice slowly began to trickle up his neck, but then it stopped. Most of his body was frozen, and he began to thrash-well, thrash as best he could in his current situation.

"Ah! Damn you Honzou! Damn you to hell! Let me out of this thing, so I can rip you limb from limb!" Koumori continued to shout, but after about ten minutes, he calmed down. Juu came out of hiding once it was quiet.

Once Koumori had calmed down, he began to change. His clawed hands and feet became less clawed, and his eyes became normal-looking. The brown hair all over disappeared, save for the hair on his head. His wings became a lot smaller, but were still visible. He also became a good deal smaller.

"What the heck happened?" Juu asked, having witnessed the transformation. "Why did he change?"

"In this battle," Ranmyaku began, "there are certain demon who extremely kind, and hate violence. Because of this, they originally refused to participate. But the 'king' gave them an alternate personality, a personality that loved to fight-who was ruthless. And whenever their spell is read, that personality takes over, and makes them change, forcing them to fight against their will. But, once the spell wears off, they return to normal."

"It was because of this that King Gash fought-so that this kind of stuff never happened again. But when Zeon defeated him and locked him away, this kind of stuff continued to happen," Honzou added.

"Uh," Koumori said. He was beginning to wake up. The ice had receded, and he stood. The boy had tan skin. "Huh? Where am I? Kit, what's going on?"

"We were fighting," the man said.

"We were?! Oh my…" Koumori stood, a bit unsteadily. "I'm very sorry if I caused you any trouble… I just can't seem to control my alter ego." He bowed. "Please forgive me. He likes to make up lies and attack other demons for little to no reason."

"It's okay," Ai said, her arm no longer bleeding. "It's not your fault."

"Hey!" Juu said suddenly. "How about you come with us? We could use a tough guy like you on our team!"

Asuru punched Juu. "You moron! What are you saying?!"

"Juu has a point though," Honzou said. "I'm willing to be friends if you're willing to be friends, Koumori." Koumori seemed surprised.

"Me too!" Ranmyaku said happily. "Wanna be friends, Koumori?"

"Yes, yes! I would love that!"

"Alright then!" Ranmyaku smiled and said. "Now Ranmyaku's Team of Awesomeness stands at 7! And it's growing everyday!"

"Hey!" Asuru said. "How come it's called 'Ranmyaku's Team of Awesomeness'? Why isn't it called, 'Asuru's Team of Awesomeness'? Huh? "

"Because I'm the one who does all the work! You just stand around reading the spells!"

_'I made two new friends today. It's always fun making new friends. I know that eventually we will have to fight each other… but let's just enjoy ourselves while we still can. And… enjoy everybody's company. Because… even if we win… we'll still have to leave our human friends behind. I don't think I could say good-bye to Asuru, Juu, Ai, or Kit, but… I'll have to. Eventually… we'll all have to.' _


	6. Encounter on the Playground

Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends

Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.

Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.

(A/N: _'thoughts', _**_SPELLS, _**"talking", flashbacks, _"the person speaking on the other end of the phone")_

* * *

Chapter 6: Encounter on the Playground

The three young demons were walking the streets. They had returned home that morning, and Asuru, Ai, and Juu had to work on their projects whilst Kit was working. Also, because Koumori was the oldest of the 3, he was technically in charge, while Ranmyaku led the team around the streets of Mochinoki.

"Ranmyaku-chan, I'm bored. Can we please go somewhere fun? Like the playground?" Koumori asked. Honzou stopped walking.

"Me too. Can we please go to the playground?"

"Well, what do you think I've been walking around looking for? I don't like aimlessly walking around the city anymore than you guys do!" Ranmyaku said with a sigh. "Hey, there it is!" Ranmyaku pointed across the street. There was the playground, with swings, slides, jungle gyms, and monkey bars, as well as a sandbox.

The kids ran across the street right there, even though they weren't supposed to. Suddenly a screech was heard and Ranmyaku screamed. There was no thud however. The car-which was a shiny red-had been stopped by something. Ranmyaku looked and saw a half-circle in front of her, as well as a girl beside her.

The girl was normal looking, except that she had blue hair and blue eyes. She had a long-sleeved black top with blue sleeves that ended in black. She wore a black skirt with white stockings and black boots. She appeared to have an angular lump on her side. How many human kids was packing heat? Ranmyaku concluded that this girl was a demon. She grabbed Ranmyaku's hand and dragged her to the sidewalk as the shield disappeared.

"ARE YOU INSANE!?" The girl shouted. "YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!"

"Calm down, Claire! What's important is that she's okay. You are okay, right?" A girl with orange hair and red eyes walked towards them. She was wearing a white tee-shirt with an orange vest with a white hood. She had orange wristbands with outlined with white on either hand. She was wearing black shorts with white boots-orange socks were showing over them. "My name is Matsudo Natsumi. Pleased to meet you…?"

"Ranmyaku. My name is Ranmyaku. Pleased to meet you Natsumi-san. Claire-chan."

"HEY! WHY DOES SHE GET CALLED –SAN AND I GET CALLED -CHAN!?" Claire shouted. Honzou and Koumori, both, whom had seen the whole ordeal, came out of the playground and saw the girls.

"Ranmyaku-chan!" Koumori said. "Are you okay?" He held his hands in front of his red shirt.

"I'm fine. I was saved by this demon and her human partner. This Claire-chan and Matsudo Natsumi-san." Ranmyaku said, pointing at the two girls.

"Demon? You knew I was a demon?" Claire asked. "Does that mean you're a demon too, Ranmyaku?"

Ranmyaku nodded. "Yup. I'm an ice demon. This is Koumori. He's a… aerial assault demon. And this is Honzou. He can control plants and trees. All four of us are demons, I guess."

"Ha! What a crazy coincidence! Hey, why don't you go play with them, Claire?" Natsumi looked down at where Claire had been standing. She was gone, swinging from the monkey bars. The other three demon children, having been reminded exactly why they were there, ran onto the playground to have some fun.

The children played for however long, until the sky became rose-red. Claire sighed. "Stupid sky!" She suddenly pulled out an AK-47 from her side and shot multiple bullets at the sky. She stopped when a seagull that was flying overhead fell to the ground, obviously shot by the trigger-happy Claire. Her human sweat dropped, while the children inched away from her. She stared at the barrel of the gun in her hand. "Huh. Usually this thing is empty."

"Don't you remember? You filled it up yesterday! Filled it up, Filled it up!" Natsumi said happily.

"Do you always carry a firearm on you?" Honzou asked who was standing behind Koumori.

"No, but I DO always carry this gun with me!"

"Um, a gun and a firearm are the same thing," Koumori said, who was hiding behind the swing set.

"Oh! Awesome Idea Alert! How about we take Natsumi-san and Claire-chan to my house so she can meet Asuru, Ai, and Juu?" Ranmyaku suggested. "And then maybe Ranmyaku's Team of Awesomeness will get 2 new members!"

"'Ranmyaku's Team of Awesomeness'? You're kidding me, right?" Claire said. The two boys shook their heads. "She made up a name for her group of friends?"

"Yessireebob!" Ranmyaku said, smiling. "For now, there are 3 teams and one human!"

"Oh really? Oh yeah! I wanna join! Especially if they have cookies-I love the cookies! They're sweet!" Natsumi said, spinning in place.

"Yes well… just follow us; we'll take you to my house!" Ranmyaku said, as she guided everyone back to her house. Of course, due to her horrid sense of direction, they got lost. They ended up wandering aimlessly until the stars came out. After a while, they finally made it to Ranmyaku's house, as they collapsed on the floor.

"I am never following you anywhere ever again," Honzou said, and everyone agreed.

"Hey you guys. Have fun?" Asuru asked. He saw the two girls and the spell book. "I see you've found more allies!"

"Yup! More members for Ranmyaku's Team of Awesomeness! I brought them here to meet the other members!" Ranmyaku said happily. "This is Asuru! He's my human! That's Ai, Juu, and Kit! Everyone, this is Natsumi-san and Claire-chan."

"It's dark… we should be going home…" Natsumi said, standing and heading for the door. "BYE EVERYBODY!" She waved.

Ranmyaku went out of her way to wave as much as she could. Claire would be a useful ally… if she didn't shoot all of them up like Swiss cheese before then. But Natsumi was right-it was getting very late, and all the potential rulers of the demon world would be going to bed soon.

"PLEASE!" Ranmyaku said loudly. "PLEASE!"

"Everybody has to go home, Ranmyaku. And we don't have enough space for a sleepover."

Ai smiled. "Actually, I need to put the finishing touches on our report, so it would be a great service if Honzou could stay here the night. That way, I don't have to worry about him getting into things while I'm working."

"How much work could you possibly have to do?" Juu asked. "The report is due tomorrow!"

Asuru sighed. "Alright, Ranmyaku, you win. You can have a sleepover."

Ranmyaku jumped for joy, smiling wildly. "Let's get this party started!"

This chapter's kinda short... sumimasen...


	7. Calling You Out

Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends

Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.

Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.

(A/N: _'thoughts', _**_SPELLS, _**"talking", flashbacks, _"the person speaking on the other end of the phone")_

* * *

Chapter 7: Calling You Out

It had been quiet. No battles, just endless quiet. It was rather boring, with the humans in school and-in Koumori's case- at work. The playground was boring and everything was just boring. This was a pain of growing up: when everything ceases to be fun-filled and everything is always boring. But then, the demon children had an idea. A way to make this boring day less boring.

They would go to school.

Now normally, their humans forbade them from following them to school, but today-today had been different. When Asuru left for school, the young demons followed him, tip-toeing behind. They were rather lucky that Asuru didn't have a sense of paranoia (like AT ALL) or else if he turned around, he would see them.

But, eventually, they made to Mochinoki Middle School, where Asuru, Ai, and Juu went to school. Ranmyaku giggled.

"So this is where Asuru and his friends go to school! Let's check it out!" Ranmyaku said with a giggle. She led to group to the entrance and grinned. The pre-teens and teens who attended this school had already entered for homeroom before 1st period started. "Koumori, let me on your shoulders, I need to see."

Koumori did as she said. Ranmyaku peered into the room where the shoes were stored. It was empty. _'All clear,'_ she thought. She got down and opened the door. The empty room led off into the school. They tip-toed inside.

"So, where do we go now?" Koumori asked.

"I'm not sure. Asuru never tells me anything about what classroom he's in, probably to keep me from trying to find him," she said, shaking her head sadly.

"I know!" Honzou said. "They're in room 3-C. Ai tells me all about school!"

"We better hurry- before 1st period starts."

The group walked carefully through the hallways. They didn't draw too much attention here, on the first floor with the 5th graders, and made it to the staircase without incident. The staircases were empty as well because of the simple fact that school had already started. They went up 2 floors until they reached the hall for 7th graders.

They opened the door and realized that Class 3-C was right beside the stairwell. What a lucky coincidence in the case of our favorite little demon children. Koumori opened the door a crack. They looked inside and saw Asuru on the other side of the classroom. Ai sat front and center. And, Ranmyaku would bet, that Juu sat in the back.

Asuru was bored, looking around the classroom, when he saw them. He saw Ranmyaku's unmistakable blue hair, and Koumori's red eyes, and Honzou's green outfit. He nearly choked on thin air, knowing that it would only be a matter of time before they were noticed, because homeroom was nearly over. They're next class was history, which was down the hall.

"Asuru!" The teacher said sternly. "Is there something interesting about the door?" She walked over to the door, and, surprised it was open, opened it wide. Asuru hoped against all hope that they had had enough sense to move, but all his hope came crashing down when the children fell into the classroom.

"HONZOU?!" Ai shrieked. Honzou waved meekly.

"Do you know these kids, Neemo-kun? Yuiku-chan?

"Yes," Asuru said, his face on his desk. "That girl lives with me and those kids are her friends."

"I wanted to see what it's like at your school, Asuru! Besides, we were really bored. Can we stay? Please?" Ranmyaku asked.

"No," the teacher said. "Asuru, Ai, escort your friends to the nurse's office. We can't have these kids interrupting the learning process. Asuru and Ai led the two to the nurse's office on the first floor.

"We'll take you guys home after school is over. Be good 'til then."

"Humph. Mean teachers get bitten by sand crabs."

After school was over, Asuru and Ai picked up the demon children like they had promised. As they walked home, Honzou noticed a note on the ground. It was folded up and partially buried into the ground. This was most likely on purpose because Honzou hadn't seen it when they came. He picked it up and unfolded it. He gasped mentally, but said nothing. It would be best not to alert the others.

When Honzou and Ai got to their house, he spoke up. "Ai, I found a note on the ground at the school."

"You shouldn't pick things up off the ground," she said absent-mindedly. "You don't know where it's been."

"I know that a demon wrote it," he said. This caught her attention.

"What?"

"The Demon World symbol was at the very top. And it was telling us to meet him somewhere," Honzou opened the paper and looked at it. "It says_: 'I am your enemy. Meet me at the river at __11:00 pm__, __April 23, 30__05__. If you don't show up, I'll destroy __Tokyo __Tower__. Don't think I'm kidding. If you want to save those humans, show up. – Z'"_

"Do you really think he'd destroy Tokyo Tower?" Ai asked, a horrified expression on her face.

"I don't know, but I don't want to try him. We should just show up," Honzou said.

"I'll call everyone. We might need the help, right?"

Honzou thought. "No, don't call them. Let's not worry them."

At 10:45, the team left Ai's house, heading towards the river. They didn't talk the whole way. Their nervousness hung thick in the air. Honzou stopped walking suddenly. Ai looked back at him. "What's wrong Honzou?"

"I was just thinking about how this could be the last time I ever see you, Juu, Kit, Natsumi and Asuru again. I might see Ranmyaku, Koumori, and Claire again, but not you humans. I just... what if I'm... what if we're not strong enough? We only have one spell!"

"Honzou. We're tough. We can take care of ourselves. And one thing's for sure-I won't let you disappear," Ai said. "You're my friend."

Honzou nodded. They appeared as the clock began to ring 11:00 clock. At first they saw no one, but then they heard a voice. It sounded female.

"What do you know, Zanna? The weaklings actually showed up. I guess that ploy you used really worked."

"Heh. I knew it would," A young girl, about 6-7 years of age appeared before them. She had a simple white dress with a bow on the front. She had long silver hair and purple eyes, as well as pale skin. Beside her was a blonde girl that was about 18 years old. Honzou was suddenly extremely scared. He backed away, contemplating running away.

"What's wrong, Honzou?" Ai asked the boy.

"That's Zanna... She's the princess of the Demon World. She's strong and sadistic, and one of the most likely to win the battle for ruler," Honzou said, looking horrified. "We should have called for help..."

"Too late," Zanna said. "Dianna, read the spell."

"**_Zakeru_**," She said. A bolt of white lightning shot from her hand.

"**_Zamen!_**" Arrow-seeds shot out of Honzou's hands, but did little besides get fried. The Zakeru attack continued, and hit with so much force, it lifted Honzou off the ground and flung him 4 feet back.

"You shouldn't have come. Oh, and FYI, I don't even know where Tokyo Tower is," she said as she stepped on his hand. Honzou winced.

_'I really should have called them...'_ he thought.


	8. Honzou Disappears?

Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends

Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.

Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.

(A/N: _'thoughts', _**_SPELLS, _**"talking", flashbacks, _"the person speaking on the other end of the phone")_

* * *

Chapter 8: Honzou Disappears?!

Princesses were supposed to be gentle and beautiful. They were supposed to have fair skin and flowing hair. They were supposed to protect the rights and lives of their subjects without question and without thought. Zanna was some of these, but more often than not, she wasn't. What she was doing now was proof of that. Not only was she crushing Honzou's hand, but she had placed her hand on his neck, choking him.

"I was hoping that you would have brought your friends. Then you could have disappeared together," she said, tightening her grip on his neck. "But you wanted to be a hero. You wanted to protect them. So you'll disappear, all alone. Dianna!"

"Right. **_Zakeru_,"** The older girl said.

Lightning gathered in her hand, illuminating her face which was graced with a twisted smile. He closed his eyes, trying to steel himself-to dull the pain. It was useless.

"**_Zamen_!" **Ai shouted. Honzou angled his hands as best he could towards the girl on top of him. When the arrow shaped seeds shot at her, her grip loosened slightly, allowing him to move from beneath Zanna. The Zakeru attack hit the ground uselessly. She stood and looked at the boy.** "_Zamen_!"**

Zanna didn't move at first. Then, she started to fade. After a few moments, she re-appeared beside her human. Honzou's eyes widened. _'How'd she do- wait a minute... could it be?'_

"Zanna!" Honzou shouted. "That dress, does it belong to your father?"

She smirked. "So you're not stupid. Yes, this is the cloak that my father wore in the battle 1000 years ago. It holds such fond memories... like when my father took King Gash's away."

"Your... your father let you use his old cloak for the battle?" Honzou became fearful again, and took a hazardous step back. "The same cloak that allows the wearer to teleport?"

"Yup. Bad news for you, isn't it? Dianna, how about we give this weak demon a taste of our next spell?" Zanna asked Dianna. She opened the silver book, and it began to glow.

"Get ready to be annihilated... _**Zakeruga**_!" The young demon girl lifted her hand towards the team. A form of Zakeru came out-but it traveled fasted and went in a straight line. Ai turned her back to the attack, holding Honzou's book closed to her chest. Both were tossed back, as if they were two rag dolls being thrown by a tornado.

When they hit the ground, Ai didn't move. She opened her eyes, and saw Honzou struggling to get up. Zanna walked calmly towards him. Honzou stood his ground, not moving, refusing to be intimidated. Zanna balled her fist and drove it into Honzou's stomach. He doubled over, and Zanna took a handful on his hair, and kneed him in the stomach. She lifted by his hair, and threw him back.

Honzou hit the ground with a thud. It hurt Ai's heart to see him get beat up like this. She closed her eyes as warm tears fell from her face. She gripped the book tighter, and rolled over to her stomach. She put her hands under her, lifting her body up. She placed her legs under her, which quivered slightly. She was standing, and Honzou was standing up too.

"L-lets get them, Honzou..." Ai said. Honzou nodded. "Even if she is the most likely to win, we're going to have to beat them, to make you king, right?" Honzou nodded. "Let's get them!" Honzou clenched his teeth, as he became outlined with green energy. His book was glowing brighter than ever. "The second spell, **_Rutsu_!"**

Honzou's hands glowed green, as five thick brown roots came out of the ground. He threw his hands behind his head, them tossed them forward, the cue that the roots were to go in that direction as well.

"**_Zakeru_!" **

Honzou moved his hands in small, overlapping circles. The roots did the same, becoming like a funnel. He closed his hand, and the roots constricted on the Zakeru attack, crushing it. His hands stopped glowing, and the roots disappeared. Zanna was smirking, and appeared to be slightly impressed.

"Interesting spell. Roots that you control that can crush other spells? Let's see if it can crush Zakeruga. Dianna?"

"**_Zakeruga_!"**

"**_Rutsu_!"**

Honzou mimiced his previous movements, wrapping the roots around the Zakeruga attack, and, successfully crushing it. Zanna appeared even more amused. "Those roots are rather annoying. I won't be able to land a single blow while you can use that! Oh, wait..."

"**_Teoza-_"**

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Dianna?" Zanna said, suddenly rather upset. "I'm not going to waste precious energy using strong spells against these weaklings. Stick with Zakeru and Zakeruga. They don't deserve anything stronger."

"Yeah, **_Zakeruga,_**" Dianna said simply.

"**_Rutsu_!"**

The roots came out of the ground again and wrapped around the Zakeruga attack, but when he closed his fists, the Zakeruga spell ripped its way out of the vines, headed straight for them. Honzou pushed Ai forcefully, knocking her down but also pushing her out of the range of the Zakeruga attack, and causing him to take the whole of the damage.

Honzou was injured severly by the attack. He didn't get up. He didn't move. Ai stood, as her heart stopped beating for a few seconds. She turned towards the team, the girl demon aiming the next attack at her.

"**_Zakeru_,"** Dianna said with a satisfied smirk. Ai moved. She ran to where Honzou lay, avoiding the Zakeru attack and examined him. His green clothes were burnt in some places and his breathing was shallow. _'Oh no...' _She thought.

_'Oh please no...'_

Zanna chuckled. "What a fitting end for your friend... a weakling losing because he protected a weak human."

"SHUT UP!" Ai shouted. Ai never shouted except when it came to reading spells, so she was surprised when that loud sound came out of her mouth. "Shut up. You don't have a clue what it's like to care for anyone do you? You're just a cold-hearted bitch who enjoys tormenting others! I don't care if you're the princess of the demon world or the queen of Kingdom Come! You will _NEVER_ understand the feelings of a human and a demon! The feeling of getting strong through the connection between the heart they share! That's what makes a demon strong! You... you're... you're _WEAK_!"

Zanna appeared to be taken aback by the sudden speech. She was silent for a long while, allowing the words to sink in. She suddenly began to make a noise that sounded like crying. It became steadily louder until Ai realized that she wasn't crying, she was laughing. And laughing hard at that.

"_Please_ human. So you're saying that I'm weak because I don't get my strength from the heart I share with my human? Please. Strength doesn't come from the heart! It come from the muscles and brain! The only use for the heart is to pump blood through our veins and nothing more. And besides-if that's really what make a demon strong, then why is your demon defeated? Dianna, let's finish this."

Dianna opened the book which began to glow. Before Dianna could read the spell, Ai spoke up again.

"Dianna, why do you do this? You just do as she says. Why don't you do what you want, and follow your own dreams? There's more besides this battle!" Ai pleaded. Dianna just smirked.

"Because, fighting alongside Zanna _is_ what I want to do. I want to win. I like the power that Zanna gives me... Zanna is extremely strong, and as long as I continue to fight with her, I can share in some of that strength. With her," Dianna paused and grinned. "With her I can step on everyone that gets in my way! **_ZAKERU_!"**

The lightning attack shot out of Zanna's hand. It was visibly stronger than all the Zakerus before it, as it shot towards Ai and the unconcious Honzou. She closed her eyes, knowing that this was the end. Honzou was unconscious, and she couldn't let Honzou get hit by another blow. She moved Honzou back, and squatted, facing the Zakeru attack. Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice.

"**_KAISPHEROSHIELD!_" A large half-circle shield appeared before her, stopping the Zakeru attack. She looked in the direction she had heard the voice, and saw the two people she was happiest to see at that moment.**

"Natsumi-san! Claire-chan!"


	9. Chikara Z

Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends

Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.

Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.

(A/N: _'thoughts', _**_SPELLS, _**"talking", flashbacks, _"the person speaking on the other end of the phone")_

* * *

Chapter 9: Chikara Z!

"Natsumi-san! Claire-chan!" Ai said. Never before had she felt so relieved. With Natsumi and Claire here to help, there would be no doubt that this battle would end in victory. The two girls jumped behind the shield to examine the damage.

"Are you alright Ai? Are you alright?" Natsumi said in her normal habit of repeating the words she said. Ai nodded, but suddenly grabbed her stomach and winced. The strain of fighting a losing battle was catching up to her.

"I'm fine," she said. "It's Honzou I'm worried about. He's unconscious and his breathing is shallow."

"Don't worry. He just needs a little rest. We demons are tough." Claire said and thumped her chest. The Kaispheroshield disappeared and the team of Natsumi and Claire turned to face front. Zanna and Dianna appeared rather bored.

"I rather hate it when demons get involved in fights that don't concern them. Don't you Dianna?"

"Yes, it is rather annoying. But, now, we can annihilate two teams in one battle. **_Zakeru!_**"

"**_Kaichiro!_**"

A beam of solar energy shot from Claire's hand, illuminating the battleground. Both attack clashed and canceled each other out. Smoke erupted from the contact point, making it impossible to see. Natsumi and Ai coughed, while Claire covered her nose and mouth with her sleeve.

"**_Zakeruga!_**" The attack tore through the smoke, hitting its target-Claire- square in the chest. She was tossed back, holding where she had been hit.

"Claire! Are you alright?" Natsumi asked. Claire nodded. "Focus on where that attack came from. **_Kaichiro!_**"

The solar blast dissipated the smoke enough, making the opposite side of the field visible. Both Zanna and Dianna were gone. "Where'd they go?" Claire asked no one in particular.

"Zanna's dress-err, cloak-gives the ability to teleport. They probably teleported away," Ai said.

"What's this? What's this?" Natsumi said, picking up a piece of paper. She unfolded it and read it aloud. _"'I don't plan to fight two teams at once. I'm not stupid. But don't worry. You and your friends' books will be burned by us in good time.-Z'" _

"'Us?' What does she mean by 'us' I wonder?" Claire asked. "Her and her human?"

"I doubt it… I don't like the way this is turning out. For now, let's just get Honzou someplace he can rest-like Asuru's house. I need to as Ranmyaku something," Ai said, beckoning Natsumi over to help her up. "If Zanna's saying what I think she's saying we might be in for a hell of a fight later."

Natsumi, Claire, Ai and Honzou arrived at Asuru's house a few minutes later. Upon entering, Ai wasted no time in asking Ranmyaku about what was on her mind. "Ranmyaku, you know the most about the Demon World so tell me: did the princess-Zanna-have a group of friends that came to the human world with her?"

"No," Ranmyaku said, shaking her head. "Her father raised her like he had been raised-a constantly training shut-in. However," this caught everyone's attention, "before the fight began, he selected a group of 7 demons he trusted. He named this team, Chikara Z. While 'chikara' means 'force', 'strength', and 'agency', it is actually a coincidence. The name 'Chikara Z' is an acronym for the first letters of the demons who make the team up. We at least know that 'Z' stands for 'Zanna'"

"So, my hunch was right," Ai said. "I think Chikara Z is trying to take the competition."

"Of course they are!" Claire said suddenly. "That's why Chikara Z was formed! To ensure that Zanna won the battle for ruler-that's their only objective!" Natsumi nodded in agreement with her human.

"Well, we have to stop them!" Asuru said.

"Well, yeah that's true," Kit said, holding his hands in front of his face. "But it's 8 demons against our 4. We're outnumbered, 2 to 1."

"And because Zeon chose this team, their probably insanely strong. We're outmatched as well," Koumori said with a sigh.

"Well," Juu said, tapping the table. "This is as good a time as any to mention that it's actually 5 demons."

"What do you mean 5? 5?" Natsumi asked. Juu said nothing, but held up a blood-red book. Everyone gasped.

"You have a demon as well?" Ai said, surprised. "I didn't think that it would be possible!"

"I do. Her name's Sachiriku and she could be a useful asset. We're still a bit outmatched, but now is a time as good as any to start acquiring more allies. In addition to that," Juu paused here, "we should also be training our butts off to get as strong as we can before we have to go toe-to-toe with Chikara Z."

"Good plan. Good plan," Natsumi said. "But there's a problem. How can we prepare for a fight, if we don't know what we're up against? Up against?"

"That's why we should vary our training," Juu said. "If we don't know what we're up against, we should try and enhance everything we can, and just work with covering up each other's weaknesses. For example, both Ranmyaku and Honzou have difficulty fighting an opponent who wields fire. Koumori could cover that up by drilling through the fire before it gets to them. Understand?"

Asuru nodded. "Juu, if you're this smart, why do you always fail?"

"Please," Juu said, waving his hand. "The stuff they teach in school won't help you in the real world! This is the real stuff, right here."

"In any case," Kit said. "Juu is right. We should train and find allies- as many allies as we can. Ranmyaku," Ranmyaku looked up. "You have a knack for attracting other demons. So after your training, look around."

"What about Honzou? He looks pretty bad. Zanna must be a ruthless fighter…" Ranmyaku said.

"She has at least three spells: Zakeru, Zakeruga, and Teoza-something." Ai said.

"We need a demon that excels at defense. Defense," Natsumi said. "Even though Claire has a shield, we need to find a demon that primarily makes many powerful shields."

"It's not a question of _finding _a demon that can use powerful shields, it's about _convincing_ them to help us. Most demons _fear _Zanna, so not many demons would willingly go up against her," Ranmyaku said, making a valid point. "But then again, most demons defy Zeon's wishes because their loyalty lies with the one true King, King Gash. These acts aren't done when he could see then though. Most demons silently defy him, but I bet many would jump at the chance to defy him to his face. Err, his daughter's face."

"So? Which is it?" Claire said impatiently.

"It's kind of both," Koumori said. "They fear Zeon and his daughter, so they do as they say, but if they could, they would defy them and revolt. But they don't because the consequence for disloyalty to the king is… death."

"So, that settles it. We have to take down Chikara Z before the situation gets out of hand," Asuru said. "All in favor say 'aye'!"

"Aye!" Everyone said in unison.

"All opposed say 'nay'!" Nothing. "Then it's unanimous! We defeat Chikara Z!"

I got a review asking when the first arc would be. Tis Now!


	10. Tsuine's Horrible Day

Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends

Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.

Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.

(A/N: _'thoughts', _**_SPELLS, _**"talking", flashbacks, _"the person speaking on the other end of the phone")_

(A/N: I'm embarrassed to say that I had a lot of fun torturing little Tsuine. That's why this chapter is longer than normal.)

* * *

Chapter 10: Tsuine's Horrible Day

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

A boy with messy red hair sat up from the floor. He hadn't fallen asleep there, mind you, that was just where he was when he woke up. He stood up and stretched. He was wearing a black shirt and pants with a flame pattern on both (obviously), and was barefoot. The sleep wear was too big, however, so his shirt hung off his shoulder and he had to be careful not to step on the legs of his pants or else he'd fall. It took him a minute for the sound to register in his head.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

_'Stupid alarm clock…'_ he thought. He pressed the snooze button and crawled back into bed. _'Five more minutes…'_

"TSUINE!" Quinton shouted as he bounded onto the fire demon's bed. "Wake up man!" The ripple effect that was Quinton jumping on the bed ended Tsuine falling off the other side. He sat up off the floor for the second time in less than 3 minutes.

"What?" He asked his partner. "I was trying to get some more sleep before you interrupted me."

"Today is Sunday. You know what that means?" An evil grin was spreading on Quinton's face. He was rich, as his parents had been multibillionaires, and had left him all their money. Quinton didn't work, but lived in the large mansion alone, since his parents died when he was 19. But Sundays, Tsuine remembered with horror, was the shopping day.

"Shopping Day…" He said with fear. Tsuine hated shopping. Quinton loved it only because Tsuine hated it. He found it fun to watch his partner whine about the old people who didn't call him the devil, ask him how he got his hair to stay in their spikes so perfectly. To be perfectly honest, all Tsuine did was slick his hair with warm water and it stayed all day.

Quinton stood and stretched. He was dressed in a plain white shirt and jeans. He currently wasn't wearing shoes either. "Get ready for the tor-I mean-the shopping!" Quinton said and left. Tsuine allowed his head to flop onto the bed.

"Dear God, kill me now…" As if on cue, the alarm clock started to beep again, steadily and rhythmically. "Damn it." He hit the off switch located at the side. "I hate Sundays."

A half hour later, the team of Quinton and Tsuine climbed into Quinton's stylish Marceau, a luxury car made in Italy, which made no sense whatsoever because it had a French-sounding name. It was a very sleek car, which the latest and greatest security tech. It was truly a masterpiece. Tsuine could never understand why humans loved such lifeless objects, yet coldly killed each other. It puzzled him.

"Let's start with the bookstore," Quinton said, sporting an innocent smile. Tsuine looked out the window. Quinton noticed that Tsuine went into a frenzy in the bookstore-grabbing as many different light novels and manga (mostly manga) that he could carry. It had started simply enough-he picked up an _'Okaasan!! Kounyuu!!'_ manga, and slowly became hooked on manga. Tsuine would never admit it, but… he was an otaku.

They pulled into the parking lot of a large bookstore. Its whole upstairs was dedicated to manga and anime, from '_.:Asterisk:._' to '_Zuugan Gann_'. Tsuine went upstairs immediately whilst Quinton looked around in adult fiction.

Upon reaching his secret haven, he ran totally amok, grabbing mangas of all different genres, until he dropped all of it. He had seen what he'd been looking forward to all week. It was the latest issue of '_Bust Blade_, in which the hero fights several large beasts that are full of blood and guts. He grabbed it, but it was immediately taken out of his hand. He looked up at the guilty, soon-to-be-dead person. It was a woman in her early 30s, and she was smiling.

"Little children shouldn't read such violent manga. It would hurt your emotional growth. Let me get you a book more suitable," She said smiling. She walked in the direction where he had just come. The only reason Tsuine didn't run away with his lovely treasure was because the trip was useless if '_Bust Blade_' wasn't in his possession. And the woman had taken the only copy.

She returned and gave him a manga with a squirrel with a small body and a large head on the cover. It had large blue eyes and it read, '_Yuumi, The Happy and Peppy Squirrel_'. He pretended to be intrigued and opened it. The first page was just like the cover, only Yuumi, The Happy and Peppy Squirrel was eating a pecan. He turned to page. It was a sunflower seed. Then a stalk of asparagus. Then celery. The woman put '_Bust Blade_' back on the shelf and walked away. It was licking honey off its paws. He then tossed it over his shoulder and took '_Bust Blade_' off the shelf. He ran to the escalator and walked down. Until he realized he actually wasn't moving.

When he tried to look and see why, he tripping and began to fall. That's when he suddenly realized…

He was falling down the up escalator.

Eventually, he righted himself (after falling for like, 20 minutes) and managed to collect the manga he was holding and go down the right escalator. Quinton bought the manga and a thick book of his own, and went back to the Marceau.

The next stop was the market.

Tsuine disliked the market in itself, or, to be more accurate, he disliked markets that were cold because they had an over-powered, open freezer section, and he just plain hated that part of the market. This is why Quinton made sure to go past said section every trip, making Tsuine shiver.

But not this time. The Warrior Of Faia would not be stabbed in his Achilles Heel ever again. When he felt they were nearing the section, he ran off, quickly but quietly. He ran past the cereal, the bread, the produce, until he made it to the aisle that had the toilet paper and paper towels. He leaned against one pack, until he felt that he had worried his bookkeeper enough. He ran back the way he came, to the freezer section. But Quinton was not there. He decided he must have gone off somewhere.

Tsuine checked the Check-Out lines, but he wasn't there. He checked the baked goods aisle, but wasn't there. He soon was in frenzy like at the bookstore, but this was the _bad_ kind of frenzy. He had checked every aisle twice, and Quinton wasn't in any of them. He had no choice. Tsuine, the heir to the Faia clan, would have to go to the Lost Children desk.

When he arrived, he sighed and said, "Excuse me, I'm…" he dreaded saying the next word, and apparently, it dreaded coming out. "Lost."

"Who lost you?" The man said. He said it as if he was talking to a baby. Tsuine wanted to punch the man in his ugly mug, but kept his cool. He merely did it in his head as he answered.

"Mori Quinton," He said, while he kicked the man's family jewels in his mind.

He moved to the speaker and said, "Mori Quinton, Mori Quinton, you have lost… eh," he covered the microphone. "What's your name, kid?"

_'Did you ever stop to think that I would be the only kid with him?'_ Tsuine thought. But he answered anyway. "Faia Tsuine."

"Wait a minute… is this man your father?" The man asked. It took all Tsuine's self control not to slap the man.

"No."

"Well, I'm afraid I can't call him."

Tsuine sighed. Time for his sob story. "My parents died when I was very young and I was sent to live with my distant relative. He is very kind to me, and, though he's not my biological father, he's the only family I have."

The man wiped his tears and turned to the intercom. "Mori Quinton, Mori Quinton, you have lost Faia Tsuine, please come to the Lost Children desk.

In less than thirty seconds, Quinton was there. He said that he had been in the candy aisle the whole time, which Tsuine missed because he didn't think Quinton would get that far in the few minutes he was gone.

The last stop was lunch.

Tsuine ordered a Cheeseburger and Quinton ordered a Seafood Platter. The two enjoyed their food, that is, until Tsuine almost broke his tooth on something. He pulled it out and, between his thumb and forefinger, was an engagement ring.

"What the fuck?" He said to himself. He looked at Quinton, who shrugged.

"I'm sorry young man, that dish was meant for a young woman who a customer was going to propose to. Thank you," The waiter said and took the ring. He was allowed to keep his food, and continued eating. Then bit into something hard, smooth, and round. He pulled it out and he was holding a marble.

"Man, this guy was _trying_ to break her teeth," Tsuine said, and took another bite. He felt something else. He sighed and pulled it out. It was white and triangle-ish.

"Looks like a piece of a tooth," Quinton commented. Tsuine looked up at him and frantically grabbed his spoon. Opening his mouth he saw it. One of his side teeth was broken.

"Oh gods damn it all!" He shouted louder than he meant to. A waitress came over and told him to quiet down and to not use such fowl language. "HELL NO, I WILL NOT QUIET DOWN! I FUCKING BROKE MY TOOTH ON THIS DAMN DISH THAT WAS MEANT FOR SOMEONE ELSE!" Tsuine shouted purposely louder. "THIS SHIT IS CRAZY!" After that, Tsuine began screaming curses in Faian Language. He slowly began to calm down. Quinton was finished by then and guided him back to the car. They returned to the estate and Tsuine bolted upstairs to read the only good thing that came out of this day: '_Bust Blade_'.

When he finished he was disappointed, there was no blood. But he looked at the blurb for the next issue. It read:

**IN THE NEXT DRAMATIC ISSUE, JUN FIGHTS MANY LARGE MONSTER THAT ARE FULL OF BLOOD AND GUTS!! YOU DON'T WANNA MISS THIS BLOODY, GOREY ISSUE!!**

Tsuine screamed swears for 3 hours straight.


	11. Sachiriku Victorious Ma Gikoru Revealed!

Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends

Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.

Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.

(A/N: _'thoughts', _**_SPELLS, _**"talking", flashbacks, _"the person speaking on the other end of the phone")_

* * *

Chapter 11: Sachiriku Victorious! Ma Gikoru Revealed!

Spring Break. The perfect time to train to defeat Chikara Z. There was a high plateau outside of the city on which they could train. 4 out of the 5 teams were there-only Juu was missing. Asuru suddenly pointed into the distance as Juu arrived.

He was walking with a girl who was taller than he was- so was probably a bit older. She had red hair and eyes the same shade as her book. Her hair was long and went down her back. She was wearing a dress with meshed wire for sleeves. She was walking behind Juu, as if she was nervous to get really close.

"Everyone!" He called out. "This is my demon partner, Sachiriku. She fights with blood, pretty cool huh?"

She neared them, waving to everyone without saying anything. Ranmyaku smiled and said, "Welcome, Sachiriku! We've got important business to attend to, training and whatnot. Let's start with showing each other all of our spells. Even though we're friends, I have the nagging feeling that we haven't seen what everyone can do."

Everyone complied, showing their spells. Ai spoke up once everyone had gone. "So, Ranmyaku, Honzou, and Claire only know 2 spells, while Koumori and Sachiriku both know 3."

"It's a pretty safe bet that the members of Chikara Z will know between 3 and 6 spells, meaning that if we don't learn some new spells, we're going to get clobbered," Honzou remarked. "And we still need more defensive spells."

Ranmyaku nodded. But before she could comment, Asuru gasped. "What is it, Asuru?"

"Spell… a new spell…" Asuru said. Ranmyaku's eyes widened substantially. She was at loss for words. _'A new spell? How? Why?' _"It looks like it appeared last night, when you saw Honzou and Ai all beat up. I guess it awakened something in you which allowed you to unlock a new spell."

"Alright! Let's try it out!" Ranmyaku said. She faced a large rock off to one side. She guessed it was there to stop people from falling off the steeped side.

"**_Ma Gikoru_**!"

She held out her right hand and a staff made of ice appeared in her enclosed hand. She looked at it, measuring it against her height. It was taller than she was. She held it with her left hand as well as her right, and charged towards the rock-faster than she thought she could move. She jumped and brought the ice staff down on the rock. She half expected the ice to break, but instead, the rock was shattered.

"Whoa…" She said, opening her hand. The staff disappeared as soon as her hand was open though. Asuru and her friends walked over to her, all with same look of amazement on their face. Koumori's was the funniest looking-he looked like someone had tried to hit him with a toothbrush, but said toothbrush fell into the toilet instead.

"That was-" But before Kit could say exactly what that was, they saw an explosion. "What was that?"

"A fight probably." Ranmyaku said. She suddenly froze. "Nobody move."

"Why?" Sachiriku asked. Ranmyaku didn't answer, but continued to listen. She heard a rock get kicked down one side. She walked over to that side and peered downward. She suddenly jumped back as a lot of dust was whipped up into the air. She covered her mouth and nose, trying to concentrate.

"What's going on? Going on?" Natsumi asked, as she covered her eyes and nose. "I can't see anything!"

"Be quiet!" Ranmyaku said sternly. "Just relax. Listen, we're under attack, but not by a member of Chikara Z." Everyone gasped.

"How do you know it's not a member of Chikara Z? You don't do you?"

"I recognize this fighting style. I know whose attacking us. Don't worry about it."

As the smoke cleared, a boy with white hair and red eyes stood there. He wore glasses. He had a black shirt and gray shorts. An older girl stood beside him, with blue eyes and short brown hair. Beside him was what looked like a giant King Cobra. Beside him was another girl with black hair and green eyes.

"So, you know these guys, Ranmyaku?" Asuru asked. "They look like bad news to me."

"I know one of them… and never would have thought that he'd team up with another demon especially not a snake. Well, you think you know a guy, then they go out and surprise you," Ranmyaku said, shaking her head. "So, Deming, how's life been treating you?"

"Not so good," The albino said. "I'm stuck with this cobra, and he's SO bossy. But besides that everything is okay."

Ranmyaku nodded. "How about this: you help us on our mission, and we'll get rid of Cobra boy!"

Deming nodded. "Sounds like a good deal to me!"

"Sachiriku, you can handle this, right? I wanna see what you look like in battle!" Ranmyaku said. "And try not to hurt Deming. We're just trying to get rid of his cobra partner, got it?" Sachiriku nodded, as Ranmyaku stepped back. The cobra demon hissed gently, a sign that Deming should do the same. Juu stepped forward with Sachiriku as did the cobra.

"Let us destroy them, Suneku," The girl said. "**_Bankai!_**" Suneku's tail became metallic, as he tried to land and attack by jabbing his tail. Sachiriku didn't really move, she more so just raised her arms to defend herself. The attacks slashed at the skin on her arms.

"**_Blogoagu_**!" Juu said. The cuts on Sachiriku's arms grew larger. She swung her arms as blades of blood came out of them. Suneku deflected them easily with his metal tail. "Man, this isn't working-that wasn't enough of a power-up…"

"Juu, please stay focused," Sachiriku said, blood dripping from her arms.

Juu nodded. "**_Blogoagu_**!"

"**_Nyuugaru_**!"

The snake opened his mouth as silver bullet shaped things came out. The attacks clashed in mid-air, but Suneku's attack didn't stop there. The spell continued through the blood, on their intended course. Sachiriku looked at Juu. They nodded in silent understanding.

"**_Gorshiera_**!" Sachiriku raised her arms as the spilt blood gathered there, forming a shield. The silver bullets had been stopped. Suneku hissed and opened the flaps of skin on either side of him. He was trying to look threatening, but Sachiriku wasn't backing down.

"**_Eruudon_**!" The snake shook its body smoothly, as if it was dancing. Sachiriku began to move in the same way. They were soon moving to the same rhythm. If Suneku attacked now, Sachiriku would have no way to dodge. "**_Bankai_**!"

He shot his tail at her, getting her right in the shoulder. The pain from the wound woke her from Suneku's enchantment, but she was bleeding badly. Suneku pulled his tail back and slashed across her abdomen. Juu smiled.

"Do you think there's enough for a one-hit wonder?" Juu asked Sachiriku who was standing.

"Perhaps. We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"

"**_Blogoagu_**!"

"**_Bankai_**!"

Suneku tried to stop the attack in mid-air with his tail, but the attack ripped through, slashing him all around his body. He hissed. Sachiriku ran around the battlefield. Suneku didn't notice. Juu closed Sachiriku's book. "That's all she wrote."

Suneku hissed-confused. He turned his head and saw that Sachiriku had over-powered his human and taken his book. Kit, who carried a lighter, lit the book on fire and Suneku began to disappear.


	12. Chikara Z Located TO RUSSIA!

Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends

Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.

Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.

(A/N: _'thoughts', _**_SPELLS, _**"talking", flashbacks, _"the person speaking on the other end of the phone")_

* * *

Chapter 12: Chikara Z Located! To Russia!

"Ah…" Deming said, stretching his arms above his head. "It feels so good to be free of Suneku. God, I hated that guy…"

"Deming, remember your promise!" Ranmyaku said, arms crossed and smiling. Deming looked at the ice demon and sighed. He put his hands behind his head.

"You're talking about Chikara Z, right? I've already located their hideout, it's… uh…" Deming scratched his head as he thought. "Kurigari, where was it?" His human looked at him. The pigment of her eyes was very milky, and looked—comparably, like the sky.

"A castle in the Russian Countryside. All of their movements converge to that spot."

"RUSSIA!?" Asuru said incredulously. He smacked his face. "Dang it, how are we going to get to Russia?" Koumori shrugged and looked at Deming.

"Do you have any idea?" Deming nodded.

"Kurigari has some impressive connections. We have everything all set up—don't worry."

"That's good!" Honzou said. "Exactly where is this Castle in Russia?"

Deming looked at Honzou. He had a rather annoyed look on his face. "What's with all the questions? What, do you not trust me or something?" Deming turned to the rest of the group. He held up 2 fingers. "It will be two months before this escalades into a serious problem. One month's worth of training, and then we will head to Russia. I expect many more demons will be gone by then."

"Wait, what?!" Jun said suddenly. "You mean we're just going to let Chikara Z rampage for one whole month?! Are you insane!?" He glared at Deming.

"Do you really think you can defeat Zanna at your current level of strength? I doubt it. I doubt it HIGHLY."

"But that doesn't make sense! Even if we did take one month's worth of training, wouldn't Chikara Z grow stronger as well?"

Deming didn't answer but looked out into Mochinoki. "You are technically correct. But, if we get more spells, our chances of victory increase, even if the enemy has gotten more spells as well."

"That… doesn't make any sense…" Honzou said and scratched his head.

"One month." Deming put up one finger. "Train and prepare. That's all."

**_ONE MONTH LATER…_**

Ranmyaku had grown over the month, and therefore, her old clothes stopped fitting a while ago. Her new outfit was much different from her other one—fitting loosely around her arms, but fitting well on her wrists. She would have looked like a traditional samurai, except for the fact that her old shoes still fit—and therefore she still wore them. The whole outfit was a flurry of blue, white, and green.

Asuru had grown respectably as well—but because his clothes were a few sizes too big anyway, his clothes still fit. The two had been training alone, as well as the others, so it was no surprise if they were no longer in sync when it came to reading spells. As soon as the demons made eye contact, they scrambled off into their own little group, talking about what had happened. Asuru joined the humans.

"Hey Asuru! How's your training been?" Juu asked. He had gotten braces. Asuru grinned.

"Great! We learned 2 new spells! And one is majorly strong." Asuru sighed and suddenly looked depressed. "But my parents didn't send me any money this month…"

"Oh really? Man, that must be harsh. How have you and Ranmyaku been getting' by all month?" Juu asked. Juu remembered when Asuru first told him about his parents. Asuru was from France, his family had moved here in hopes of a higher education. But Asuru wasn't good enough to cut it, so they abandoned him here in Japan. In fact, Juu thought that Asuru wasn't Asuru's birth name, but rather an alias or something.

Asuru sighed dramatically. "Welfare." He said.

A powerful wind blasted the plateau, as well as a loud ripping of blades which sounded like a helicopter. Koumori—wearing a blue-gray outfit—looked into the sky as the helicopter landed. Their ears ringing from the extremely large chopper, the door opened and Deming jumped out, wearing jungle an all-black outfit. He had grown a good amount—he was only a shoulder shorter than the teenage Koumori.

"'Sup. I expect you've all been training hard. And not just the demons…" His gaze drifted off to the humans. "But anyway, let's go take care of Chikara Z. Zanna's had enough time to train her forces. So now, we take her down!"

"That right! That's right! Me and Claire have been training hard! Right Claire?" Natsumi said. Claire nodded and laughed.

"Zanna better watch out! She won't run away this time!"

"We're gonna pay her back for what she did, right Honzou?" Honzou nodded at Ai's statement. His new strength burned brightly in his eyes. If anyone was going to send Zanna's sorry ass back to Makai, it was definitely going to be him.

"Yes!" Ranmyaku punched the air. "Let's get rid of Chikara Z once and for all! Who's with me!?" Everyone yelled in response. Deming helped Kurigari from the helicopter. The girl moved and said simply:

"Get into the helicopter. It'll take us to the airport."

The demons and humans alike piled into the helicopter—which was a lot larger on the inside than it appeared to be from the outside. A middle aged man sat in the front, quite obviously the pilot. The black blade began to move. Ranmyaku noticed that it you couldn't hear the loud blades from within the chopper.

I lifted from the ground and into the air. This was it. There was no turning back. They would either stop Zanna in Russia and save the rest of the contestants for the crown, or their books would be burned and they would return home ashamed and beaten. No one was aiming for the latter.

Ranmyaku recalled the early mornings and late nights of strenuous training. It was partially thanks to the brutal training that her clothes became unwearable. Not only did she outgrow them, but the training and battles turned her clothes to tatters.

'_Out of all of us, who has changed the most, I wonder?'_ Ranmyaku thought. _'Honzou, Koumori, Claire, Sachiriku, Deming… Or maybe the humans? Have they changed the most?'_

The sun was fully out, but even so, a line of darkness marked the horizon. Like the line that had kept all of them—both demon and human—in check for so long. To think, that the demons were going to defeat their black line. But what about the black line of their humans? Can they? Will they?


	13. Things Get Complicated!

Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends

Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.

Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.

(A/N: _'thoughts', _**_SPELLS, _**"talking", flashbacks, _"the person speaking on the other end of the phone")_

* * *

Chapter 13: Things Get Complicated!

"Zanna-sama," a girl with wide white eyes and dark hair said into the darkness. The stained glass windows of the castle had been done in gothic colors of browns, blacks, as well as dark grays and greens, so very little light came into the chamber despite the fact that it was nearly noon. All the rays of light that came in seemed to be drawn to the pale young figure sitting in the throne. She seemed to give off her own light. Her purple eyes moved towards the other girl—older than her by 13 years at the very least.

"What?" Zanna asked. She was extremely bored. Her servants took care of any and all intruders, so she had been training alone for the past month. Well, she wasn't _totally_ alone. There were her servants.

"Well, you know those other demons—Honzou, Claire, and Ranmyaku?"

"What about Deming?"

"Yeah him too. They're at the airport. They'll be here in a matter of hours, and my reach the castle as early as tonight." Zanna scoffed and turned to the stained glass.

"Send one of the Cronies to take care of them. They aren't even worth my time." Zanna turned her head towards the older girl, her purple eyes coaxing in more sunlight, making them glint evilly. "Is that all?"

"No. There's one other thing. Two demons are headed towards us, and--"

"The amount of power those two possess may become troublesome…" Zanna trailed off. "Tell the members of Chikara to back down and let them pass through without opposition." Zanna smirked, exposing her sharp, shark-like teeth. "It's about time I had some fun… and with such powerful opponents! What are their names?"

"Tsuine of Faia and…" The girl trailed off.

"And?"  Zanna raised her eyebrow. The older girl clenched her fists.

"And Byron Von Stelkin…" Zanna's smirk only grows larger as the seconds name falls from the older girl's lips. The albino chuckles quietly.

"Is that so? Well, I'm interested to see how you fare against your brother. And I want to see just how powerful the acclaimed Faia Clan is." The young girl jumped from the throne onto the stone floor and turned to her servant. "You better not lose to him, or things could become rather painful for you… Rumi."

**_MANY MILES AWAY_**

Three boys and one girl were walking along a dirt path. A boy with spiky red hair and bangs on either side of his face led the group. Another boy dressed like a royal in white and red, was close behind. The girl who was wearing a red dress stood near him, and the eldest man of all trotted beside Tsuine.

"Are you sure this is the right way, Tsuine?" The royal boy asked. Tsuine seemed to ignore his question for a long time but looked behind him.

"You have no way of knowing do you?" Tsuine's eyes returned front. "You're just going to have to trust that I'm not going to lead you into some kind of trap, Byron."

The older boy stopped, but Tsuine continued walking, as if he didn't notice or didn't care. "Hurry up—we don't have all day!"

It was the latter.

Byron's thin features became thinner, but he continued to walk, following Tsuine's lead. "By the way, Tsuine…"

"What?"

"There's something I'd like to confirm. The Faia Clan accidentally attacked a member of the Aisu Clan, which gave birth to unrequited rage between the two, right? That's what I gather--"

"No, that is completely wrong." Tsuine said, not falling out of stride. "That's not what happened at all."

"Then what did happen?" Byron seemed interested at this point. Tsuine stared straight forward, and kept in-step. He took a deep breath.

"A long time ago, when ink was being developed, there was an insane demon. This demon thought that he could give life to anything. Even the ink. He tried several times, each time a failure. Until… he succeeded. The ink came to life and took on the demon's form. But the ink was unstable, so had no choice but to take the body of the demon as a stabilized vessel.

"The ink soon learned that it had full control of the man's actions, and soon became greedy. It would steal the bodies of powerful demons and take their most powerful spells. It was called the Nikumosuta, and the King at the time was scared. He soon learned that Fire Demons had a strange immunity to the beast. And had the power to destroy it."

"At the time, ink was mostly oil, right?" Byron asked.

"That's right." Tsuine continued. "The King hired my ancestors to protect him and his Kingdom, and we did. Hundreds of years after that, we had nearly defeated the Nikumosuta, which had taken the body of a young Ice Demon. The Nikumosuta fled deep within the genetic structure of the Aisu Demon, and it was immediately assumed to be a hate crime.

"That king died thousands of years ago, but the Faia Clan has made it a personal goal to destroy the Nikumosuta, which is stuck in the body of the Aisu Demons. It was weakened that day to the point that it could only travel in direct descendents of that demon."

"But there haven't been any reports of that for the last 5 generations of the Aisu Clan! Why is that?" Byron asked.

"The Nikumosuta skips generations. It appears to try to get into the bodies of female members with a special spell. I don't know yet if the Nikumosuta is in the current generation or not."

"What will you have to do if the Nikumosuta is inside the Ranmyaku girl?" Quinton asked before Byron could.

"Simple. I'll have to kill her as soon as the Nikumosuta manifests itself. If I wait too long then the monster will take her body for its own, and destroy the demon world."

"You're going to kill her, Tsuine? That's pretty harsh don't you think?" Quinton said nervously.

"The life of one means nothing compared to the lives of the many."

"It does when you look at it in the eyes of the person." Tsuine sighed at the thought of that. Quinton didn't understand. The politics of Ningenkai and Makai, when looked at side to side, it seems that Makai has a medieval way of looking at it. But that's why… that's one of the reasons why… the battle takes place at all, right?

* * *

Ranmyaku: Hey! I'm the main character! Why wasn't I in this chapter?!

Tsuine: Because you fail at life.

Ranmyaku: I may fail at life, but you fail at the UNIVERSE!

Tsuine: Hey! When I get sent back, I will look like a hero!

Ranmyaku: After I own the shit outta you!

Tsuine: I dare you to say that again.

Me: Just like an old married couple...

Ranmyaku and Tsuine: WE ARE NOT MARRIED OR A COUPLE!!!

Me: Whatever. Review please!


	14. Lackluster Confidence!

Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends

Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.

Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.

(A/N: _'thoughts', _**_SPELLS, _**"talking", flashbacks, _"the person speaking on the other end of the phone")_

Chapter 14: Lackluster Confidence

"Wow… Russia is so pretty at night!" Ranmyaku said from the hotel they were staying at. The city was still pleasantly lit, instead of the ever-blazing lights of modern Mochinoki. The demon girl was dressed for bed, in a large tee-shirt and shorts. A castle was many miles away and looked frighteningly imposing. Her smile faded.

"Ranmyaku, what are you doing? It's getting late…" Ai said from her bed. Ranmyaku put her head in her arms and stared at it. It looked like a big dark monster even at this distance. Ai walked to the window and stared at the castle as well. "Scary isn't it? You aren't having second thoughts, are you, Ranmyaku?"

"No… But I am worried that we won't all come out…" Ranmyaku backed from the window sill. She plopped on the bed, disrupting the sleeping Claire's rest. Her eyes snapped open and her gun was at Ranmyaku's head.

"Oh, Ranmyaku… I thought we were being ambushed or something…" As if on cue, a loud explosion happened downstairs. The girls in the room ran into the hall. The boys came out looking less alert. They had probably been asleep. Deming and Kurigari came from the room across the hall, and Deming looked upset and deadly serious.

"There's a demon downstairs." He said. "That's what caused the explosion."

"Deming, why are you sleeping in--" Ranmyaku began. Deming waved her comment away.

"Come on!" Deming ran down the hallway to the elevator. Ranmyaku pointed at it.

"We aren't supposed to use this in case of fire…" The elevator came and she was pushed inside. "Oh, THAT was real kind…" The elevator slid down the shaft to the lobby. The metal doors slid open and as smoke went into the air. When it cleared, a penguin creature with grenades strapped across its body stood there. Ranmyaku sweat-dropped. "What is this?****Disgaea?" ((A/N: I think that counts as breaking the fourth wall. BAD RANMYAKU, BAD!))

"I think those are the demons that Zanna wanted us to kill, dood."

"Yeah, that's definitely a prinny—this is definitely Disgaea," Ranmyaku sighed and stood up. "We might as well get rid of it."

"Ranmyaku-chan… what's a prinny? What's Disgaea?" Koumori asked, looking at Ranmyaku with concern. Ranmyaku rolled her eyes.

"Both of you--shut your mouths!" Deming sighed and stepped out of the elevator and looked at him. "Well? Are you gonna attack or just stand there?"

"I'd watch out if I were you. If I've seen enough Disgaea—which I have—Prinnies explode!" Ranmyaku said. Deming stared at her with a look of confusion. "Oh come on! You don't know what Disgaea or a Prinny is either?! DO YOU NOT WATCH ANIME OR PLAY VIDEO GAMES?!"

"**_Gorgoru!_**" The penguin lifted his wing and a ball with little straps of light around it appeared near the tip. The penguin thing then tossed it at Deming.

"**_Byushield!_**" A circular shield—rippling black and with some type of wing emblem in the middle-appeared in front of Deming, stopping the blast. It pushed the attack back at the penguin, which grabbed a grenade from his many. Pulling out the spoon with its beak, he threw the grenade into the spell, the grenades explosion stopping it.

"Gotta do better than that, dood," The penguin said. Its beak left him without varied expressions, but you could see he was smirking on the inside.

"Kurigari, use a stronger spell. We can't afford to go easy on these guys." Deming's book glowed brighter.

"Hehe, I'm just the grunt, dood. If you can't defeat me easily then you'll never defeat Zanna, dood." The penguin took another grenade and threw it at Deming. He braced himself.

The explosion was strong, but not strong enough to lift Deming off the floor. Which raised the question of how it was able to off-balance his own spell. Deming was breathing heavily and moved from the elevator. It was just them now. Asuru took out Ranmyaku's book. He began it feed it heart energy, when Ranmyaku stopped him.

"Deming can handle it," She said. Spells ricocheted around the room. Things exploded, things were deflected. But Deming refused to give in. His book began to release and amazing light—dazzling and leaving impressions on their eyes.

"**_Gigano Reisu!_**" A large black sphere came from Deming's hand towards the penguin. It appeared frightened. It's human powered up their spell book.

"**_Gigano Gorgoru!_**" The penguin created a more powered-up version of its first spell. The two spells were on a collision course to one another as anyone could plainly see. Ranmyaku watched the battle with genuine interest. If even DEMING, one of the strongest demons she knew, had trouble with just Zanna's GRUNT, then maybe they were being too naïve for their own good.

When the two spells collided, smoke went up into the air. But after a few seconds of nothing, Deming's Gigano Reisu spell went through the smoke and hit the penguin, causing his book to burn. Ranmyaku went out to Deming, but she was not smiling. She was obviously upset.

"Deming, that penguin was too strong even for you?" She asked. Deming sighed and looked to her. I small smile was on his lips.

"Don't worry about it, kiddo." Deming rubbed Ranmyaku's head, and she swatted his hand away. That had not quelled her fears at all, in fact, gave her more and more the feeling of utter sadness. She wasn't so sure that they could defeat Zanna at their current level of strength.

Several hours later, after destroying the video proof that anything strange had occurred, Deming gathered everyone into his hotel room. The demon boy looked just as concerned. "Zanna…" he began, "has gotten a lot stronger. I thought that maybe if we trained hard throughout the month, we could defeat her easier. But, I know now that I was wrong. Just as we have gotten stronger, Zanna has gotten stronger too…"

"But there is still hope right? Right?" Natsumi asked. Deming leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. His fingers netted together as he thought.

"Yeah." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "BUT!" Everyone quieted. "But… we can't rely on older strategies to win. We need new methods and new strategies."

"Maybe we should go home then—to work on our strategies…" Koumori suggested. Deming shook his head.

"They already know we're here, so going home now is definitely out of the question. It would only put more innocent people at risk."

Ranmyaku sighed sadly. She then perked up. "Hey, demons we sent all around the world, right? So there should be some here in Russia!"

Deming netted his fingers and thought about it. And he thought as her considered the pros and cons of each idea. He had to admit, Ranmyaku's idea was better, but there was one fatal flaw. "Zanna's base camp is here. Do you really think she would have left any demon in this country alone? All the demons that once inhabited this country have probably all been sent back home…"

"We have to try, right?" Honzou said, standing up. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to be sent back to the demon world be the likes of bitchy scum like Zanna!"

Deming nodded. He understood. "Fine then. Search for demons. But at least try to get some training in…"

* * *

Me: Hi everybody! Thank you soooo much for the awesome support! I just want to say that because of the extreme plotness that is going on right now, your characters probably won't appear for a good chunk of chapters. But know that I _WILL _use them, okay? 


	15. All gone?

Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends

Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.

Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.

(A/N: _'thoughts', _**_SPELLS, _**"talking", flashbacks, _"the person speaking on the other end of the phone")_

_

* * *

_

Chapter 15: All gone?

(A/N: Please read Leo: The Beast Mamodo by Crazyman321 . One of the characters in this chapter made an appearence there. His name is slightly changed though...)

Ranmyaku was the first person awake of the group. She figured that Deming was essentially right about the demons probably being gone from all of Russia, but it never hurt to try, did it?

The ice demon left to hotel without eating breakfast, expecting to cover a lot of ground before anyone woke up. The city where the demons were staying was reasonable active. Ranmyaku, unlike Deming, lacked the ability to sense a demon's presence. She knew this, but had insisted on looking. Looking back on it, Ranmyaku realized that Deming was probably right about their being no more demons in Russia.

Several hours passed with nothing, until she heard a lot of panic coming from the other end of town. From what she could gather from the screaming and conversing masses, there was some sort of magic fight going on at that end of town. Ranmyaku smiled inwardly, and pushed against the crowds.

The pushing began to thin as Ranmyaku got closer. Soon, she felt it. Even though Ranmyaku could not sense demons, she could sense the murderous intent of demons. Another explosion and smoke went into the air, blinding her momentarily.

She knew from instinct that some intense battling was going on. And without her human too. The smoke cleared after some time, and she saw that the fight had already ended. There were two demons standing there, both male. One could be no older that 12 years of age. The other was sitting on air, arms crossed, looking bored. He looked to be in his mid-teens--around the same age as Koumori.

The floating one had messy blue hair and dark blue jeans and he wore a long sleeved shirt under a sleevless jacket. He had endless black eyes, and his hands were in his pockets. His pants nearly covered dark blue converse.

The twelve year old was dressed differently, of course. Despite the cold weather that was in play right now, the boy dressed sparingly, wearing a green tee shirt and black shorts. He was wearing gloves, but they had open fingers with the symbol--Ranmyaku noted--belonged to the demon world. He wore normal shoes with a lighting bolt on them. Ranmyaku noticed that both boys, at least, in her eyes, were very handsome.

"That was way too easy, right Shuun? I hardly broke a sweat." The floating one asked. He jumped to his feet and looked around. The defeated human was gone. If she could compare Koumori and this boy, this boy would be taller.

"Really. I can't believe I didn't use a spell stonger than my 4th..." the other boy said. He messed with the single braid that held his green hair. Dispite that, he still had bangs that framed his face. His peicing yellow eyes looked around as well. "What do you think Hayate?"

Ranmyaku thought that the boy--Shuun--was referring to the other demon. Instead, it was an albino boy holding a book. Probably Shuun's bookkeeper.

"I honestly don't care." The older boy shrugged for effect. He had a white hoodie and dark jeans, as well as boots. Ranmyaku thought these guys were pretty interesting. She needed to approach the situation carefully... carefully...

_Urrrrgwa..._

Ranmyaku blushed. Her stomach had been the source of the growl that alerted the attention of the talking people. Hayate took out his book. Ranmyaku sighed and came out, lifting her hands in surrender. Hayate relaxed and Shuun sighed.

"Who are you?" Shuun asked.

"My name's Ranmyaku--" She said. Hayate became tense again.

**_"Sorru!_**" The demon boy darted towards her, punching and kicking rapidly. Ranmyaku was astonished. She didn't think such speed was possible, even for a demon. Ranmyaku caught his arms and put her weight on one of his feet. Now it was his turn to be amazed.

"I don't have my human so I'm not a threat! Listen," The boy seemed to be listening. "My friends are trying to round up forces to defeat Zanna. Judging by the way you fight, you guys are obviously strong. Will you help us?"

The other boy grinned devilishly. "No way. We're strong enough to take down Zanna on our own." Ranmyaku looked awestruck at the the boy's reaction. Not so much that he had refused, more so that he looked like he was ready to eat someone alive. "Shuun, take care of her, will you?"

"No prob!" Shuun grinned and leaned in closer to Ranmyaku's face. "This'll be fun..." He lifted his other foot knocked her off his foot. Ranmyaku started to loose grip on his arms, so he grabbed her wrists. Just like that, the tables were turned. The other boy flew and was gone after that. Shuun released her wrists and Hayate closed Shuun's book. The boy who had attacked her was gone, replaced by someone not so sadistic. "Sorry about that. See I have to act around him or else he'll think I'm soft." Shuun looked her up and down and did a dual thumbs-up in approval. "I like what I see!"

"Um... okay?" Ranmyaku was oh-so confused by this point. He stomach released another obnoxious growl, and Hayate looked at Ranmyaku as well.

"It's almost lunchtime. Why don't you go back to your hotel to eat, okay?" Shuun looked at Hayate offended and almost angry.

"C'mon Hayate! Can't we treat her to lunch?" Shuun asked. Hayate shrugged.

"Sure, why not..."

**_A HALF HOUR LATER..._**

"Please Hayate!" Begged Shuun.

"NO! I'm not gonna change my mind just because you keep begging me to!"

"I have tolerance, I swear!"

"NO!"

Ranmyaku watched the argument with interest. Where they were eating, they gave you drinks if you looked old enough to drink them. Hayate could be no older than 18, but he looked older than he actually was. Shuun, of course, wanted to take advantage of this and get him to order a drink. Hayate was firm in refusing. He apparently knew that something bad would happen if Shuun got stone drunk.

"Hey, will you guys help us?" Ranmyaku asked to bickering boys.

"Of course, seiteki-chan," Shuun said with a wink that sent shivers up and down Ranmyaku's back. The _bad_ kind of shivers of course.

"I guess. As long as Aru never finds out, we're golden."

"But what if he does find out?" Ranmyaku asked.

"Then we're dead." Hayate said with an indifferent shrug.


	16. Assault

Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends

Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.

Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.

(A/N: _'thoughts', _**_SPELLS, _**"talking", flashbacks, _"the person speaking on the other end of the phone")_

_

* * *

_

Chapter 16: The Assault

Hayate and Shuun took the bill. Shuun promised that he'd meet her and her friends outside Zanna's castle—he had nothing to fear from the blue-haired Aru, since he actually hand no intent in taking on Zanna in the first place. Ranmyaku walked back to the hotel, and informed them about Hayate, Shuun, and Aru. Deming seemed surprised that he was wrong, but was happy just like everyone else. Their numbers stood at an imposing 7 teams.

At high noon that very same day, the teams of Ranmyaku, Claire, Honzou, Koumori, Sachiriku, and Deming headed into the Russian Countryside. They were silent most of the way, but Koumori seemed oddly distant from his friends. Kit seemed to share Koumori's distance, staying silent.

As they neared the castle, Shuun and Hayate came into view. The two guys were waiting outside the castle stronghold. "These are your friends then?" Shuun asked, looking at the group slowly. Ranmyaku nodded and Deming came to the front of the group.

"Proceed with caution, because Zanna has no doubt set many traps for us. Stay on your toes, and no matter what—" Deming clenched his hand and punched up, "no matter what, we're all going to get out of here."

The group went into the castle. Ranmyaku noticed that there were many doors branching off into many directions. "Which one?" Shuun looked up and around.

"That's the one we want." He pointed to the one across the room. The group ran at it, but then, Deming's foot sunk into the ground. They knew what was coming a split seconds before it happened. The floor opened beneath them and they screamed—falling into the deep belly of the castle.

"DEMING YOU IDIOT!" The vast majority of the falling people/demons screamed.

**_OUTSIDE THE CASTLE_**

"Tsuine, what do you expect to accomplish by waiting?" Byron, the royally dressed boy, said.

"They're going to clear the obstacles for us. Don't you think that would be far easier than trying to clear them ourselves? Not only that, but we'll be at full strength when the time finally comes to send Zanna back to the demon world," Tsuine said as he stared at the castle from a high perch. One leg was dangling nonchalantly down, while the other was up and drawn towards him.

"What are the chances that they'll be annihilated before all the demons are gone?" Quinton asked from beside Tsuine.

"Pretty damn good, actually," He said, staring at the castle without blinking. "If they're numbers can be related to power, then, they might survive. But from the vibe I'm getting right now, they're good as dead." He looked at the entrance, then at Quinton. He had grown over the last month or so, but still wore the same clothing. "At any rate—"

A loud scream was heard from the castle.

"…That was fast…"

**_THRONE ROOM OF ZANNA_**

"The other demons are inside the castle, but they fell into the very first trap set. I really don't think they're that intelligent…" Rumi said, trying to be utterly serious but couldn't resist smiling.

"I'd have to agree with you," Zanna said, scowling out the windows, even though she couldn't see beyond them. It was probably that she knew Tsuine and Byron were out there, and she was wondering why they had not entered. "Make sure that each one of them is disposed of. I have no use for scum like that."

"Of course," Rumi bowed and left the throne room, closing the door behind her. "Chazor!" She screamed into a communication device running along the wall. "Get your ass to room one, stat!"

"I'm going; I'm going, tee-hee…"

"Freak…" She muttered before heading into the higher parts of the castle, where weapons were kept. One of the other members was there, and she'd have to get him into place, as well as the other 4. One had been in place all along. She smiled to herself, imagining the look of surprise on the group, when they saw their opponent. There was no chance that he would fail.

**_CASTLE BASEMENT_**

The group had finally stopped falling, and was in some type of corridor. It was lit by blazing torches ing brackets, plus, the ceiling and floor gave off an eerie glow, as if the inset crystals were absorbing the light and reflecting it back at them. Shuun grinned, looking impressed. "Whoever built this castle was a pretty sophisticated guy."

"Why does it have to be a guy?!" Claire yelled from a few bodies away. Shuun crossed his arms and turned to look at her.

"Because—judging by when I think this was built—women couldn't be architects."

Claire muttered something that sounded devilishly like, 'sexist bastard', and they continued through the corridor, which smelled of dank earth—most likely, they were underground. And several miles down, judging.

Finally, they came to a heavy, polished, large door, made of something along the lines ebony wood with no visible handle or knocker. Ranmyaku pushed the door. "C'mon, c'mon, BUDGE, you stupid—!" She grunted, putting all her weight into pushing the door. "Why… won't… you… move…?!"

"You're not going to get it open that way, tee-hee!" A strange voice from behind the ebony door said. "You'll need to answer my riddles to get inside, tee-hee! But only if you answer right, because if you answer wrong—" A pause— "THEN I'LL DESTROY YOU!" The voice that had once been remotely feminine got deep and husky and loud as the last part was uttered. It then returned to its original pitch. "So? Are you ready?"

Ranmyaku was shaking—as she had been taken aback by the sudden shouting quality of the voice. She turned, and everyone else was wearing a similarly frightened expression. They had not been expecting such a reaction or noise. It was Ai who recovered from the shock quickest. "Yeah, we're ready."

"Okay! Ice Demon, tee-hee! What is hot and cold at the same time, tee-hee?"

Ranmyaku put her chin in her hand and thought. Everyone was exchanging looks of utmost worry—not that she would get hers wrong, but that they would get theirs wrong. There was little doubt that Ranmyaku would be right, because she was very intelligent; despite having zero sense of direction. Finally, she looked up, smiling. "What is hot and cold at the same time? Well, the answer is obvious." Everyone held their breath—it had obviously not been too obvious to them. "The answer is AN ICE CREAM TRUCK THAT IS ON FIRE!" (A/N: -insert anime fall-)

"RANMYAKU, WHERE'D YOU GET A CRACKPOT ANSWER LIKE THAT ONE!?"

"DON'T BE THICK! AN ICE-CREAM TRUCK ON FIRE!?"

"YOU'VE DOOMED ALL OF—"

"That's right, tee-hee! An ice-cream truck on fire! Now, who's ready for the next riddle?"

* * *

**FORESHADOWING, OOOOOO!**

I don't know if that's the real answer to that riddle, but that's the one I got from the Powerpuff Girls.

Um... the plot will get thicker next chapter, I promise.

Honzou reveals why he wants to be King...

Ai's mysterious origins come into light...

And you'll learn what Chazor looks like.


	17. Ai and Honzou Resolution

Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends

Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.

Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.

(A/N: _'thoughts', _**_SPELLS, _**"talking", flashbacks, _"the person speaking on the other end of the phone")_

_

* * *

_

Chapter 17: Ai and Honzou Resolution

((Note: From this chapter onwards, Shuun's name will only have one 'u'. So it will be spelled 'Shun', okay?))

The entity behind the heavy door continued to throw around riddles to the demons and humans standing there, waiting to get inside. They got strange riddles, easy riddles, hard riddles, and age-old riddles that required quite a bit of thought. Finally, it was down to Ai.

"Human of the plant demon, tee-hee! Are you ready to receive the last riddle, tee-hee? Remember, if you get it wrong, THEN YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS WILL BE DESTROYED!"

Ai, undeterred by the change in the voice of the entity, replied, "Yes, I am."

There was a short pause, and then the entity said, "If I tell you 'everything I say is a lie', am I telling you a truth or a lie?" Ai thought for a long moment. She had heard this riddle before (or, she at least thought she had), but the answer was beyond her. For a long moment she thought, and she was still half-thinking when she lifted her head with a conceited smile, as if she knew the answer.

"It's a paradox. If it's true, then that would make it a lie, and if it was a lie, that would make it true." Everyone around her was hopelessly confused. Ranmyaku, however, was nodding as if she understood, but it was possible she was just hiding her confusion.

"That is correct tee-hee! YOU MAY ENTER!"

The heavy doors opened soundlessly to a large room that was perfectly circular. Unlike the outside corridors paved with cobblestones that were cracked and broken and jutted out, this room was not paved at all. However, there were large spires coming out of the ground which ended in sharp points that would prove fatal to fall on. The fact that these were on the field made it difficult to navigate and near impossible for any attack to go in a straight line. But along the wall of this circular room were no rock spires to get in the way. A quarter of the way along the wall was a door, similar to the one that had brought them into the room, but much smaller. Like its larger counterpart however, it had neither a handle nor knocker.

"**_Gyozosen_**!"

Several giant flying rock spires went through the air, towards the group. Hayate and Ai were the first to react. "**_Kikuyo_**!" "**_Rikkasu_**!"

Hayate's spell, Kikuyo, created a shield of twisting, roaring wind. Shun held the shield in front of him, and it was large enough to protect Ranmyaku, Claire, and Koumori. Ai's spell, Rikkasu, created a shield made of a giant flower. This shield protected Deming and Sachiriku.

"Not bad, tee-hee! Not bad at all!"

"Everyone, listen to me please." Ai said. The members of the team turned to Ai, looking curious about what she had to say. "There's a door along the wall. Shun. If you can force that door open, I'm willing to bet that it'll take you up to the next demon in line. You guys go ahead. Honzou and I will take care of this guy… girl… demon."

Ranmyaku was surprised about what they were asking them to do, and was about to say something when Honzou spoke up, turning to her and looking rather happy. "Ranmyaku, go on ahead. If I lose here then I won't feel like I've disappointed anyone. I truthfully don't even want to be king. The thought gets me fired up, sure, but I don't really want to do it.

"So," Honzou continued, "what I'll do is this. As long as I remain in Ningenkai, I'll make sure that one of you become the ruler of our world."

Hayate nodded. "Shun, let's pry that door open! **_Reoku_**! _**Sorru**_!" Shun was there one second and gone the next. There was a repeated thumping noise, like blows being landed, then the sound of cracking wood. Hayate closed the book and, with it tucked under his arm, ran over to Shun. Everyone followed, except Ranmyaku who held out her right pinky finger to Ai and Honzou.

"You'll be right behind us. Pinky Swear." She said. Honzou smiled and hooked his own Pinky with hers, and Ai interlaced her finger into their two. They unhooked their fingers and Ranmyaku ran after the others.

"Oh? You're not going to try and escape tee-hee?" The demon said, and a form appeared one of the spires. It appeared to be a boulder with arms and legs and a mustache. It had semi-circle grey eyes and was smiling. "I'm your opponent, Chazor!"

"**_Gyozosen!_**"

"_**Rutsu!**_"

The roots stretched into the air and wrapped around the spires, and began to squeezing the rock spires tightly. But that did not fully destroy the attack, as Honzou felt the Spires pushing. "Ai… I need more Heart Energy!" Ai complied and fed the book more strength, allowing Honzou to crush the spires. He looked at his human. "Ai, let's get some foot work in!"

"No." Ai said. "In that field of spires we're at a totally disadvantage we'd be better off along the wall." She said and ran off along the wall, looking at Chazor, trying to find his weak point. Honzou was close beside his human.

"_**Biyoroku!**_"

Ai was caught off guard by the spell, and looked around for the spell. When nothing happened, she looked at Honzou, obviously confused. But out of the ground came several triangular things like teeth, followed by the ground rising up, closing around them…

"Ai! Spell!" But Ai didn't react. She stared at the decreasing light, not hearing Honzou at all. "Ai? Ai!"

"Oh Ai-chan! Relax, it'll be fun!"

"Egotru, I don't think we should be out here at night!"

Ai, about 8 years of age, was walking behind a boy around the same age as her. He had black, spiky hair and kind green eyes. Walking around the streets after curfew was a big problem—one that resulted in punishment. But here they were, walking the streets many hours after curfew.

Egotru turned a corner and bumped into a staggering man whom was most likely drunk. He leaned down and grabbed Egotru, whom punched and kicked and bit at any spot on the man's body. "Ai! Hand me that bottle! Hand me the bottle Ai!" Ai turned around and saw an empty bottle. But she didn't grab it and hand it to Egotru. She backed away, scared, finally breaking into a run going in the other direction. "Ai? Ai!" He yelled. "Ai, help me!"

"AI!"

Ai was snapped out of her stupor to find that the mouth was almost fully closed. She looked down at the book, which began to glow. It became the predominant light in the place. "_**Rutsu!**_" The root spell shot up in the tiny opening and began to force it open. Slowly, light returned into their prison, and 'Gyozosen' spell hit the ground in front of them, the force knocking them back. Honzou stood up immediately, while Ai was still in the process of regaining her balance.

"Ai, should we use our strongest spell?" Honzou asked, looking at Chazor without any type of fright in his eyes.

"Hm. The battle hasn't pointed to that yet. Besides, the spell is difficult to use in a field this uneven." Ai looked around the spiked ground, and then to the mustached Chazor high on one of the spires. She gripped the book tighter and it began to glow. "So first things first: Clear this field." Ai took a deep breath which gave her a few moments to think, and she finally said, "_**Rutsuyo Yoyo!**_"

Honzou held his hands above his head and several roots came out of either one of his hands, each ending in a sharp, buzz saw blade overgrown with vines and flowers. He held these in front of him and they reared back, hacking at the spires in snake-like motions. Chazor simply watched, not caring that his greatest advantage was being destroyed. When the spell disappeared, Ai was panting slightly, and the only spire was the one that Chazor was standing on. Honzou looked around, confused.

"Where's the human?" He asked.

"Honzou, the human is inside the spire." Ai said, knowingly. Honzou looked up her disbelievingly, and then turned to the spire the Chazor was standing on. Ai, thumbed through their book, searching for a spell, and then began to feed it heart energy. The glow of the book grew stronger and stronger, until it basked the whole of the field in its great light. "Ready Honzou? _**Engorgio Rikkasu**_!" Ai shouted.

A giant flower broke the ground behind Honzou. The middle of the flower split to reveal many layers of sharp teeth. It roared and lunged at Chazor, when a spell rang out. "_**Umbro Rokazu**_!" A black thing like a dog rose out of the ground and charged for the spell. They collided—repeatedly—one trying to destroy the other, but no success being made.

"Oh how interesting, tee-hee… Our spells are evenly matched! Joquar!" Chazor yelled. The dog grew larger and more ferocious. Ai immediately pumped up their spell, causing the flower to grow stronger, and it wrapped around the dog, crushing it. But Ai had used up her strength to defeat the dog, so the spell began to grow weak…

"Ai! No! Not yet, please, not yet!" Ai tried to make the light of their book strong, but it only grew weaker the harder she tried…

"A B-plus?!" A woman much older than Ai screamed. Ai was only about 9, and the murder of Egotru (which was technically her fault), was affecting her grades in school. Ai usually got straight A's, but this grading period, she had dropped to a B-plus. Her mother, red with anger, rolled up her math study book and proceeded to whack her with it, repeatedly, harder and harder…

The flower finally dissipated before even hitting Chazor. Ai collapsed on the earthen ground of the field, unable to move after her heart energy hit zero. Honzou knelt beside his human, shaking her, as if he was trying to unstuck any strength that may have gotten stuck on the walls of her heart. "Ai, please get up!"

"Honzou, no, I'm drained… I… I can't…" Ai closed her eyes and said, whispering, "It's all going to end here." Ai gripped the book and moved it under her body. She held it close and looked at the ground. She blinked, tears welling in her eyes.

Honzou stood and clenched his fists, looking down at his human partner. "Shut-up, Ai! We promised Ranmyaku that we'd catch up to her and the others! We can't break our promise! I'm going to stay on earth as long as I can to make sure that one of my friends becomes the next Ruler! We can't allow Zeon and his off-spring to rule anymore!" His own green eyes had given birth to tears, which he wiped away unceremoniously. He began to glow in green energy, and Ai's heart felt pumped. She swallowed as she found a small amount of heart energy, and took her book from beneath her.

"Jaquar, LET'S GET READY FOR THE FINAL ATTACK!" Chazor said. But Ai was too busy with their own book.

"_**Heraruku!**_" Ai said, and Honzou's glowed green and began to sparkle. Honzou, understanding, placed his hands on Ai. The girl felt extreme warmth and comfort, as her wounds healed and her heart energy replenished. It was almost as if the spell had reset her body to the way it was before the fight.

She stood and began to feed her book heart energy. The glow grew stronger than ever before emitting a huge light. "_**Engorgio Rikkasu!**_" She shouted.

"**_Umbro Rokazu!_**"

Again, the carnivorous flower and the black rock dog collided in mid-air, but this time it was a complete win for their flower, which opened its large jaws and devoured the spell. Charging, it opened its jaws once more and ate Chazor, as well as the upper half of the rock spire he was standing on. It disappeared and the smoke cleared. The lower half of the spire had shattered because it was hollow and could not withstand the force of the attack.

A boy lay on the ground, his head slight to one side, and the book on fire. Chazor began to disappear as the two began to celebrate. They laughed and made their way toward the door that Shun had broken.

"**_Aryima!_**"

Several large, sharp swords shot out of the ground and covered the doorway. The demon the spell had come from was standing on the far side of the wall, but was basked in shadow. Lifting his hand, the 'Aryima' spell came again, only to be met by a second voice.

"**_Saitashi_**!"

A large shield of fire appeared before Ai and Honzou, as well as four people, three of them male. One had red hair and looked around the same age as Shun, another was much older, one was dressed like royalty, and the girl wore a red dress and had rapier sheathed at her waist. Ai looked up to see a smoldering hole in the roof.

The other demon retreated at the sight of the new arrivals. "N-no way…"

"Who are you people?" Ai asked.

"I am Tsuine of Faia. This is my partner, Quinton. That's Byron Von Steilken—" said the read-head before he was cut off by the silver-haired noble.

"**_Stelkin!_**" The boy said.

"—Byron Von Steilken and his human, Myrui." Finished Tsuine. "We're here to defeat Zanna just like you and your friends. Consider us…allies."

* * *

Oh! Badass Tsuine has arrived!

Ai and Honzou learned an awful lot of spells...

Oh, and I think I should say something: Shun and Hayate are both mine. I own them.

Yup. Ai's friend was killed because she was too scared to help him and she was... 'beat upon' if she didn't get A's.

Yup. Honzou has no reason to be king--because he doesn't want to be king.

I think everyone really wants to know about Tsuine and Ranmyaku's pasts, but I'll save that for another arc ;)

Hmm... and... oh, that battle against Zanna will be worth it, this is my longest chapter to date, and I hope to have 18 out soon.


	18. Is it Love?

**Chapter 18: Is it Love?**

Ranmyaku and the rest ran up the stone steps to a seemingly empty room. It was dark from the staircase, but as they entered, torches all along the walls flared up to meet them. They cast eerie flickering shadows all around the completely circular room. Skeletons lay scattered close to the wall and crossed swords hung on the wall, grouped with shields blaring proud family symbols. The room was completely empty, save for the door at the other end of the hall.

"Hm. It seems like the demon who occupied this room went downstairs in quite a hurry." Deming said with a bit of worry in his voice.

"Ai..." Jun breathed and turned, as though he was going back down the steps to her. What if something's happened to her? He, for one, could not forgive himself if something happened to his friend--something that could have been avoided. Shun grabbed his arm with lightning-fast reflexes and pulled him back to join to group. Jun, enraged, turned to the speed/wind demon, to see that his face was contorted into one of pain, as though this was something he had experienced before. His grip loosened and he allowed Jun to pull away and take his place with the others.

"All we have to do is cross this room, right? That's easy!" Ranmyaku boasted and took a couple steps. Yet again, Shun's speedy reflexes were needed. The floor fell away from under them, but the space below didn't look like something they wouldn't mind falling into. Everything they had ever dreamed was in the pool. Ranmyaku saw her little brother's smiling face. Asuru saw his parents. Jun saw himself with a ring on his finger. Saichiriku saw herself, happy with a male. Claire saw herself as the ruler of the Japanese Mafia, and Natsumi saw herself in a world of colorful desserts. Koumori and Kit both saw themselves beside their companions and friends. They already had what they wanted.

Deming looked around after tearing himself from the reflective surface of the mirror-like liquid below. They had to get across somehow... just as he thought that, platforms rose from the shimmery liquid. It disintegrated before it rose to their level. The bespeckled demon sucked in his lips and pushed up his glasses slightly. "Too easy. This is way too easy."

He grabbed a nearby stone and chucked it. A shimmering form that looked oddly like a Chimera rose from the liquid like the same and opened its powerful jaws, crushing the rock between them. The entire group was forced to take a step back.

"...That's more like it..."

**Meanwhile...**

Tsuine's hands were in his pockets. "You must be Hiekki. Did you have orders from Zanna to move in?" He asked casually, pushing his bangs from his eyes. The demon named Hikki grinned from the shadows before moving forward. All of his blonde hair was pulled back. His four arms were crossed and his iris-less eyes stared at the boy across from him. his pants were loose and tight in all the right places, and his shoes were not made for protection, but instead for limber movement.

"Of course not! You and your friends are too much of a prize. I was supposed to bow down and let you pass with no trouble."

"What about Zanna's orders? Don't you follow them?"

"To hell with Zanna's orders! Like I care what that little shit has to say!" Heikki scoffed and spat on the ground. His eyes never left Ai and Honzou, his initial prey. Honzou was battered, and although Ai had been healed by their new spell, her fatigue could not be hidden. Byron showed some interest, and asked if he followed Zanna willingly. Hiekki responded with a cold, "as if!" and proceeded to explain that none of them really liked Zanna, but were bound to serve her for some reason or another.

"Why do you serve Zanna?" Tsuine asked, and was not as all surprised when his adversary drew swords from his sheathes and grinned a toothy grin. His teeth were shaped like tombstones and were just as grey.

"Ah. Now that, my fiery friend, is something I cannot tell you."

With that Hiekki ran forward with his swords poised to kill. No spells were being uttered, and all non-fighting partnerships watched with baited breath. Ai was on the verge of shouting, 'Cast a shield!' at Quinton whom merely stood there as Tsuine's general position shifted only slightly. He turn, feet together, and lifted up both his arms. Two blades were caught in his hands. The other two made contact with his arm. He barely winced as they made contact.

"I'm not your friend." He retorted, wrenching two blades from him and arming himself.

**_Meanwhile..._**

"Zanna, it seems Hiekki has moved from his position. He is currently in--"

"I know, Rumi. I also happen to know that Ranmyaku and her group are in Hiekki's room currently, while he is disobeying orders and attacking our guests," Zanna said, legs crossed. Rumi did not seem too put off that her initial report had been useless to Zanna. However, the younger girl's leg began to twitch and tap against the floor in obvious annoyance. "I also happen to know that he said, 'To hell with Zanna'. I think he must be punished, don't you agree, Dianna?"

Her human had been sitting with her back to the throne, completely in its shadow. She fed the book heart energy and murmured Zanna's weakest spell, which she shot into her chair. Rumi decided to leave her boss alone for the moment. She sighed and leaned on a pillar. "What am I doing...?" She wondered, and slammed her fist on a door as she walked by. "Its going to be your cue soon!" She shouted and continued on her way.

**In Hiekki's Room**

"How are we going to get across?" Sachiriku asked, staring down into the shimmerly liquid. She wasn't the only one either--everyone except Deming, Shun, Koumori, Kit, and Kurigari. The non-entranced demons looked at each other and nodded in a pact of silent understanding.

"It seems to me," Deming said, "that as long as we keep moving and keep breathing, we shouldn't be attacked." Koumori nodded and commented on the how right that seemed to sound. Kit read his spell and Koumori managed to carry Kit, Natsumi, and Claire across in one go. Deming could only manage Kurigari. Shun managed his own bookkeeper only as well. The three non-entranced demons went back. Koumori managed Jun and Sachiriku. Deming got Asuru and Shun was left with Ranmyaku.

Everything was going great, until Shun looked into the shimmering liquid. He saw a young, serene face with slight dimples. She looked not much different than Ranmyaku. Her hand reached up to touch him, and--for a moment--he stopped breathing.

The great Chimera reared up, distorting the image, and snapping him--and everyone else--from their trance. Hayate saw what was happening and pulled out Shun's book, cursing himself all the while. "**_Maruku!_**" He shouted, and before their eyes, the shimmery beast began moving much slower than before. The speed demon danced around the beast on the spires and came to a stop on the other side.

"Shun... what happened out there?" Deming asked. Shun clenched his fists and looked down.

"None of your damn business."

**Meanwhile...**

Tsuine was prepared to fight with the two swords he had taken. It wasn't as though he had no experience with them--quite the opposite. He was quite a good swordsman when push came to shove. Hiekki grinned, but his grin fell as a shaft of lightning illuminated the shadows behind him. An old man--seemingly of Mexican decent, yelled in agony as the electricity hit him. And Heikki began to vanish. A scarecrow like creature appeared and began to speak.

**"Appalling. You should know better Hiekki. I expected far more loyalty from you."**

"Bitch!"

**"I don't like it when you use hurtful words."**

Another shaft of lightning rained down from the ceiling, turning the book to ashes, and Hiekki vanished on the spot. The Scarecrow turned to the group, an amused look upon its features.

**"Tsuine of the Faia Clan and Byron Von Stelkin. Charmed to finally make your acquaintance. I sincerely apologize for Hiekki's utter lack of judgment. I, as you already know, am Zanna."**

A shiver went tingling up Ai's spinal cord. She noticed that although the four armed demon had vanished, the swords that Tsuine had taken from him for the sake of battle were still there. They had a slight curve to them, and they way he continually shifted their position in his hand made it obvious that they were not very comfortable to hold. They didn't fit the shape of his hand properly.

"What are your plans?"

**"As if I'd tell you that. I'm after the same thing you are."**

At first this didn't register, but it soon made sense to the fire demon and to the other three whom knew. "The Nikumosuta..." He whispered.

**"There you go... you aren't as dumb as you look."**

"Why do you want the creature? You aren't going to destroy it are you?" He said. He was not really asking a question.

**"For the same reason my father went after Faudo. I want its power for my own."**

"You crazy bitch."

The scarecrow shook its head from side to side, clicking its tongue. **"Tsk, tsk, tsk. What is it with boys and hurtful words? Anyway, go ahead up that staircase if you want. I was going to bring you straight to me, but since I'm such a 'crazy bitch' as you say, I think you're due for a fine thrashing from my minions**." And with those words the scarecrow vanished and Tsuine took in a shuddery breath. The Fire demon looked genuinely scared.

"Let's go."

* * *

So... many... meanwhiles!  
Dun dun dunnn! The plot thickens!

Review? Please? Oh, and sorry for the wait. :P


	19. I Must Repent!

**Chapter 19: I Must Repent!**

All eyes were on the speedy demon. But Shun didn't care--his eyes were on the ground, staring at the cracks that riddled the stairway they were climbing up. The spoke in hushed whispers, and even though he could hear them, he didn't care about what they were saying to him. What did it matter anyway? He couldn't help the girl in the shimmery water, and he had also almost lost Ranmyaku, the one who looked just like her. Was this it? It had to be it. This was his only chance to truly fix what he had done. If he failed then everything would fall heavily on his conscience. He balled his fists and Hayate stared at his demon partner. Never before had he seen the boy so quiet. His mind was troubled, there was no other explaination.

The stairs gave birth to a dome. It looked almost like a cathedral, except it was completely dark. The group took two steps in, but soon found that there were no torches along the wall that would light up for them. The room was black as pitch, and there seemed, for the first two steps in, to be nothing inside it. Kit fumbled around his pockets and pulled out his trusty lighter and lit it up above his head. The feeble light came upon the room. It was totally bare except for a large tiger that was sleeping in the center.

Startled, Kit blew out the light in a hurry.

The group took several steps until they were almost halfway back to the room with the shimmery water. "Now what?"Sachiriku asked. Deming rolled his eyes and sighed. Seriously, did he have to do everything? Was he the only one with even moderate brain power?

"Someone has to stay behind and defeat that demon."

"Two should stay behind," Shun said suddenly.

Deming seemed startled by this. Shun's silence had been broken! "Two? Why?"

"Well, since that H guy went back to attack Ai, two should fight here, just in case another demon comes. And even if none does come, there will be two demons fighting instead of one, so that means that we'll defeat it faster," He explained. They had to admit, it made sense, and the door was open on the other side of the room. All they had to do was get there without awaking the tiger demon, so all that was left to decide was who would stay behind to defeat the beast.

They settled on Shun and Ranmyaku.

After Kit left him one of his lesser-used lighters (he explained that he used to smoke so carrying lighters around became a rather hard habit to break), they carefully creeped along the side of the room to the door on the passageway on the other side. Shun and Ranmyaku made their way to the center of the room, moving with slow careful steps until they were only a foot from where the beast had been slumbering. Shun flicked on the lighter, and saw that the beast was gone.

Where could he have gone? Shun turned and waved the feeble light around, as it fell on the red-eyed beast skulking closer to the wall. He let out a low growling sound.

It yelled and ran at Shun, intent to pounce, and although Hayate opened the book, he was far too slow to keep up with the beast. Shun was tackled to the ground and the lighter flew from his hand and crashed against the floor. Darkness fell in the room after the lighter--mad thankfully from metal--skittered to Asuru. He turned it in his hand and slipped it in his pocket.

"Shun, you okay?" Ranmyaku crawled along the floor. Shun groaned a bit and sat up. He felt insane amounts of pain from his arm and found that his skin was torn and blood was flowing freely from the wound. Ranmyaku of course not see this, but she probably smelling the light scent of tin wafting from the wound. Before she could ask he rose to his feet again, bringing her with him.

Shun fumbled in his pockets and began to panic. "The lighter... where's the the lighter?" Asuru raised his arm and flicked on the lighter, which illuminated the beast in mid pounce. He grabbed the ice demon beside him, frozen in shock, and pulled her back with him, away from the angry beast. The speed demon even avoided his claws.

"**_Gikoru!_**" Asuru shouted, and ice spires impaled the beast whom shook them out. They heard a loud murmuring noise, and the beast's coat looked oddly sharp. Each individual hair had become a needle; a pinprick. The beast was less like a tiger and more like an overgrown porcupine. Shun turned to Ranmyaku and with hurried, quiet whispers of "move, move, move, move...!" The demon took off towards them.

"**_Maruku!_**" Hayate shouted, but the spell seemed to almost bounce off its hard fur. Shun bit his lip, and pushed Ranmyaku aside as he jumped as high as he could to avoid the knife-like fur.

"Anytime at all, Hayate!" He shouted to his flustered bookkeeper. Hayate was wondering why his demon was worrying so much about Ranmyaku instead of about himself. Shun had good reasoning. Ranmyaku looked exactly like her. He had promised to live a save life, to give of stealing for her. Even though he promised, he had to steal her life. If he could keep Ranmyaku safe, then maybe she could forgive him. It was like the second chance he had always needed.

"**_Ma Gikoru!_**" Asuru shouted as the ice staff appeared in the hands of his demon. She swung it around and smashed it into the tiger's skull... but the beast remained undeterred, even from the spell with enhancement qualities.

"This... looks... bad..." Shun murmured as the lighter's feeble flame flickered out. "And it just got a lot wole lot worse."

* * *

The plot thickens?

Thinnens?

I dunno.

Review? Please? =3


	20. Tornado of Ice

**Chapter 20: Tornado of Ice**

Asuru tried frantically to get the metal lighter to light again, but despite his valiant efforts the annoying device would not light. In the darkness the two tried to locate their enemy, but how could they do that if the couldn't see? There had to be another way. Shun soothed Ranmyaku whom was beginning to breathe frantically. He listened, off-set by the slightest noise. He caught it. The beast's breathing was getting closer and closer.

**_"Kikuyo!"_** Hayate called from the darkness and wind shield appear before them. The porcupine tiger smashed its body against it and he flew across the room, judging by the loud clang the beast made as it hit the ground. It snarled at them and its growls and snarls were resounding everywhere...

**_"Furafurizudo!"_** Asuru shouted and Ranmyaku made a wall of ice surrounding them. It gave off an odd glow, so the two demons inside could see. She turned to see Shun, leaning against the frozen shield, hand clasped over the wound that was still bleeding profusely.

"Shun... you're hurt..." She noted lamely and walked to him, lightly touching his hand stained with his own blood. He hissed a little but managed to smile.

"I'm alright.... s'okay Rammy-chan, I'm okay..." Shifting his weight he could apply more pressure. "I have too much to repent for to let this stop me..."

Ranmyaku was confused and allowed this to show on her face. Shifting slightly, she took the white sash on her waist and wrapped it around his bloody arm a couple times. Shun sighed in relief. "What do you mean by you have too much to repent for?"

"I had a single family member. She was related to me by blood, my cousin. She looked a lot like you, and I thought that things would get easier if I stopped stealing. I owed someone a lot of money Ranmyaku. You don't deal with people like that. Anyway, all I had to do was give them one thing." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sapphire necklace. He leaned towards Ranmyaku and slipped it over her head. He touched the stone that fell in the center of her chest. If I gave them this back then everything would have been done. But I didn't. So they took her, and... they killed her. So I have to do the right thing this time Ranmyaku, I have to..."

The ice demon wrapped her arms around him as the tiger smashed against the sides of the shield. "I know you can do the right thing, and I can help you. Let's both do the right thing and repent faster." Shun nodded and wrapped his arms around her loosely, watching the wall of ice crack slightly from the large tiger's slamming. He tightened his grip on Ranmyaku and released, as the shield was broken and the room plunged back into darkness.

At that moment, something seemed to connect all the beings in the room. Shun and Ranmyaku wanted to help each other, and their bookkeepers wanted to help each other and their demon. Their hearts seemed to connect with a piece of twine, and even though none of them spoke commands and none of them could see each other they all seemed to know what had to be done.

"**_Gigano Reoku!_**"

"**_Gigano Gikoru!_**"

Shun grinned and ran around the tiger slowly, then faster and faster, air currents moving with him until... a tornado was born! It lifted the beast off the ground and into the air. A large barrage of icy needles came from the ice demon's mouth and it spun around, slicing, stabbing. They watched as the storm began to sparkle red. Shun finally slowed down and the tornado raged for a few minutes more before dying down. A shiny book skittered to the center of the room.

Asuru tired one final time on the lighter and it sputtered to life. He brought the flame upon the book's binding and it began to burn, as the lights came up in the room. The human had dropped the book, but the human themself was gone.

Ranmyaku smiled and wasted no time running ahead to the next room, Shun and the others close behind. The room was rectangular in shape with a triangle top. Ranmyaku looked around for the demon whom was the head of the room, but gasped at what she saw instead.

All of the others were laying on the floor, tired and defeated. However, none of their books were burned save one. Jun's hand rested in a pile of ashes, which sat because there was no wind in the room. They ran to their allies and friends, shaking them, shouting at them, but getting no response. Shun perked up and turned to the entrance way. "I hear someone coming."

The green-clad Honzou jumped from the steps, smiling all the while. He threw his arms around Ranmyaku and Shun, glad that they were alright. Ai, Tsuine, Quinton, and their ally Byron came up not long after. Ai had to explain the Tsuine meant no harm and that he had saved them for Hiekki, whom had tried to ambush them. She still seemed deeply mistrustful of the Faia Clan warrior but figured now was not the time. The girl took out Honzou's book and read their newest spell to rejuvenate Claire and Natsumi, whom seemed to be the more conscious of the others.

"Who did this to you?" Ranmyaku asked the demon girl.

She looked at the others and said, with a light stuttering in her voice, "K-K-Koumori. He ambushed us... destroyed Sachiriku's book... He's with Zanna! He's evil! He tricked us!"

* * *

-gasp!- Koumori's evil?! HOW COULD THIS BEEEE?!

Review! Please? Tsuine loves you!

Tsuine: No I don't!

SILENCE!


	21. Betrayal

**Chapter 21: Betrayal**

Ranmyaku and the conscious others were at a lost for words. The thought that the tender-hearted little demon with shrunken bat wings could have turned to his friends and done this, hurt them so bad and even send them back to the demon world... it was unthinkable. Koumori was incapable of doing something this cruel, wasn't he? Wasn't he?

"It's always the quiet ones..."

All heads turned to Tsuine. Ai and Honzou said nothing, because secretly they believed what the powerful fire demon was saying. Koumori was always quiet and thinking, even as his gentle, caring self he seemed to always be brooding over some deep, inner problem. That said, this all seemed to make sense. Did that mean that Zanna had planned all this? Had she planted Honzou in the mountain and sent Koumori after him? Did darken the leaves with her lightning to make some symbol with the trees that would entice the ice demon to go and search? And had she, somehow, known that Ai would be the wielder of Honzou's book to make it easy for him to sneak his way into their group? Zanna had planned this all. Every step they made was watched by Zanna through Koumori.

"It all makes sense. I knew she would try and infiltrate the ranks of and enemy team. I can't believe you guys trusted him. There are no friends--only enemies and alleys. To open yourselves up to someone was truly a stupid thing to do. You're all lucky he didn't take action sooner. Of course that would be exactly what you--"

Ranmyaku stood and walked briskly over to him. The loud, sharp sound of skin-on-skin echoed around the almost empty room, and all eyes were on the ice demon. Tsuine's head was turned to the left, the direction he had been smacked. There was a red mark on his cheek where her hand had made contact. He opened his eyes. From where she stood, they seemed almost black--an extreme of navy blue. They seemed to say, 'what the fuck is your problem?' as his hand strayed to the mark and he righted his head.

"You don't know him," Ranmyaku was on the brink of tears, her nostrils flared in anger. "You have no right to talk about him like that."

Tsuine's had left his cheek and a frightful smirk graced his features. "But you know it's true. You're only mad because deep down you know that every little word is true--"

"Shut up!" She screamed and made to slap him again. The boy caught her hand and held it in place, not allowing her to try to move it in any direction. He pulled her forward and pushed her back, causing her to fall down amongst her unconscious friends. Shun was in front of Tsuine in and instant. He made to say something, but Tsuine clamped his hand on his mouth and lifted the speed demon bodily from the floor.

"You're so light..." he commented and tossed Shun aside. Claire pulled out her gun and tried to aim at the demon's head. Tsuine's reflexes rivaled even Shun's it seemed, and his pushed her hand upwards, causing the gun to fire but not hit anyone or anything.

"Stop it!" Ai commanded and managed the shove Tsuine away from Claire, and stood between them. Honzou walked over to Claire and asked if the fire demon had hurt her. She assured him to she was not bodily hurt, although her pride was pretty hurt. "Now, whether it's really Koumori or not doesn't matter anymore--we still have to defeat the next demon!"

"I'll do it. I've got to get that bitchass motherfucker to pay for doing this to us, after we trusted him." She cocked her gun for effect, and Ai cast their spell to heal Natsumi as well. They both stood, assuring them that they'll take care of the Koumori. It was unanimously decided that Ai and Honzou stay behind to heal everyone while the others went ahead to the next room. Tsuine stated that the next room ended in a dead end and pointed to a corridor on the other side of the door. Ranmyaku, Shun, Tsuine, and Byron went for that room whilst the Claire went up the stairs to face Koumori.

Claire found herself in what appeared to be a throne room. It was much smaller and less extravagent than Zanna's throne room, but it was obviously a throne room. Moth-eaten tarps decorated the walls, their stories faded and incoherent. There were no windows, although it was obvious that something like that had been intended. The arches that would have held glass pushed outwards but were sealed by stone. Sitting on the throne was Koumori. Or rather, his alter ego.

"Ah, welcome to my quaters, Claire. I'm happy you could make it!"

"Why are you working for Zanna? We trusted you, Koumori!" She said, feeling tears in her eyes despite herself.

The fur-covered bat demon pulled his lips back over his sharp teeth. "The minute you began to trust me was the minute you lost the battle." Claire recognized the quote--it was one that King Gash based his speech on when he had originally taken office. Her parents seemed to joy in repeating the speech, as though to reassure her that Gash will return. She brought out her gun and tried to steady her hand, but found that the tears clouding it made that quite impossible.

**_"Megano-Daruku!"_** Kit shouted from far across the room. Koumori took flight and opened his hand to her. A dark funnel of air with sharp razors within came free from his palm and shot towards her at a frightening speed. Still, tears filled her eyes and even though her arms were still up as though taking aim, why, she did not know. Even if the tears were not clouding her vision, even if her hand was steady, she knew she could not bring herself to shoot at Koumori.

_'The minute we started trusting him was the minute we lost the battle.'_


	22. Pain

**Chapter 22: Pain**

**_"Kaispheroshield!"_** Natsumi shouted, as the half circle shield appeared to protect them from the attack. Despite the amount of power Natsumi was infusing into the shield, it proved to be not nearly enough as Koumori's large attack shattered it and engulfed them. The orange-haired girl managed to push herself up; even though his attack had ultimately triumphed over their shield, it seemed to have offset the attack enough so that it didn't do too much damage. Claire was up with her gun put away, staring down Koumori. His arms crossed and his wings flapping lazily, he looked back with those whiteless red eyes.

"Why?" She asked. She needed to know why he was doing this, why he was attacking them, those whom were his friends. He landed on the thone he had been occupying only a few minutes ago. He crouched and smiled a toothy smile at the girl on the other side of the room.

"If you expect me to say something like, 'Zanna is holding my family hostage' then don't hold your breath. We--by that I mean my lighter and myself--were brought into this willingly. The sweet, nervous and gentle Koumori you _think _you know doesn't exist. It's a lie. Everything you thought you knew about him was a lie." Koumori's Darker leapt off the throne and made his way close to her. Claire couldn't believe what he was saying to her. She clapped her hands over her ears, refusing to believe it.

Natsumi's voice rang out to her to pay attention. "Lift your hands! **_Kaichiro!"_**

Claire did as she was told and brought her hands up to Koumori as a blast of solar energy slammed into him, sending him stumbling back a good several steps before stopping in front of his throne. The blast appeared to have done nothing more than singe some of the flying demon's full-body fur. He snarled even though he appeared to not be hurt in the very least.

**_"Megano-Daruku!"_** Kit shouted again and the same ripping tunnel grew from the other demon's hand, tearing through the air on a deadly course two two of his former friends. Natsumi held the blue book close and tugged the smaller demon out of the path of the attack, still being thrown back from the powerful aftershock.

Claire swore as she pushed herself up from the ground again. She looked at him from the dirt and dust, trying to compose herself and her rising panic. Frightened. She was impossibly frightened. She hadn't realized that he could be so strong--she hadn't thought he could be this strong. Only two sidelong glances of his strongest spell had her knees knocking. This was bad. Truly, impossibly bad.

Koumori lighted on the ground and walked towards Claire. "Your naive nature and headstrong gestures were, in the end, not enough. You are by far the weakest of them all. I know for a fact that you've learned not a single useful spell, so lay down and go back home like a good little demon," his hand pulled back, he began preparing for the final blast. She had begun to bore him rather quickly, and she would be dealt with like the other boring ones that had tried to infiltrate the castle.

_'That's what he thinks!'_

Natsumi hugged the book close to her body and said, with as much feeling and emphasis that she could muster with what little strength she had: **_"Taou Burokai!"_** A bunny rabbit made of solar energy appeared. It only needed one good jump to get to Koumori and it jumped--it leapt with as much power as its solar form could muster as Claire stood to her full height. Her knees were knocking in fear, pain, and fatigue. Why? Why was he so strong?

**_"Faa Dooxu!"_** Koumori got on one knee and moved his hands so that the wrists were touching and the fingers went away from each other. A ball concentrated wind and darkness grew in his hand as he as he sprung into the air and spread his giant leathery wings. It flickered once, twice... then it came to life. It blasted down to the ground, cutting into the stone as it made its way to its target. They had to move. Claire hopped out of the way and pulled Natsumi along too.

"We can do this! We have to do this!" Claire shouted to no one in particular. Natsumi raised herself and opened her book.

"Yes, we can do it! Do it!"

Koumori lighted on the ground. "Shoot off your most powerful spell! Winner take all!"

**_"Kairuga!"_**

**_"Megano-Daruku!"_**

Light and Darkness filled the room evenly. As Claire lay on her back, smiling at her human without regret, she smiles because she knew she did good. She almost won. But Koumori was better, and his spell went through hers. Their book lit up instantly, and the smaller, Light Koumori whispered a faint, 'I'm sorry' as she vanished from the earth.

* * *

Ranmyaku wiped away a tear as she walked into the next room. It was a large pool, being no land in sight. Just like the shimmery stuff from before, this water looked attractive. It was oddly clear and despite attempts would not freeze, and a beautiful mermaid creature rose from the depths. She instantly seemed to take a liking to Tsuine, inviting him to come into the water and play with her. She would not bite, she promised, and lifted her shimmering tail as though to tempt the boy. Tsuine responded stoicly that he would not be going into that pool anytime soon, because it was full of heavy water. You'd drown if you went in. But she was not deterred and swam to the center of the pool which took up the entirety of the room. How were they going to do this one?

* * *

And... Claire is sent home. By Koumori no less!

This completely goes against intended plot. o.o

Review! OR I WILL SICK KOUMORI'S DARKER ON YOU =3


	23. I Have the Powah!

**Chapter 23: I Have the Powah!**

What were they going to do? They had to get across somehow if they were going to get any closer to Zanna, any closer to defeating the evil lightning demon, they had to get across the pool. "This sucks..." The speedy demon Shun muttered angrily. "If only Koumori was here, he could just fly us--sorry Ranmyaku..." The mention of the demon's betrayal had gave birth to a couple tears on her cheek, which he wiped away with a gentle movement of his finger.

"I think I can do it." Tsuine said, moving to the edge of the water. Quinton couldn't help but wonder why he was getting so close to the water--what would he do if he fell into the water? The fire demon knew very well that he could not swim, and if he fell in he would die with quite ease.

Ranmyaku couldn't help but snort with contempt at the promise. "What are you gonna, hot-head?"

"What are are _you_ going to do, ice queen?" Tsuine retorted and Ranmyaku became quiet and hugged her body, stepping away from the water.

_"Come on, cutie... you can come into the water... I won't let you drown..."_ She said in a beautiful sing-song voice as she swam gracefully through the water. She pulled herself out of the water, water glistening on her beautiful tail, and they found that she was totally naked, her chest hidden under shiny black locks and large green eyes. Thick eyelashes and ivory skin with plump lips. She lifted her tail up and flicked it under his chin, forcing him to wipe away the moisture. _"Don't you think I'm pretty? Say I'm pretty."_

Tsuine scoffed. "No thanks."

The Mermaid girl's face--which had held a beautiful smile and loving eyes grew hard and thin. She growled angrily and jumped back into the pool, pulling herself onto a rock in the center of the heavy water and purred gently, flipping up her tail so the fishlike appendage over her head. _"I was going to let you across without problem if you said I was pretty, but you didn't want to! You are so mean, Cutie! So mean!"_

She leaned on the rock and began to weep animatedly. Tsuine clapped his hands over his ears and finally shouted at the mermaid. "For the love of God, shut up, please!" The mermaid stopped sobbing abruptly and snarled at Tsuine.

"You mean boy!" She bellowed across the room. "How dare you be so mean to me! I'll smack you!"

**_"Waerto!"_** The mermaid girl swished her tail at Tsuine, flicking off the water droplets, which sharpened and solidified. Tsuine cut through these with one of sheathed swords he had taken from Hiekki's chamber. He had dropped the four-armed demon's swords there because they didn't fit right. The one he held now felt made for him. He turned it between his fingers and spread his legs a bit, trying to make himself harder to knock down.

"Leave it to me, okay? Trust me."

Ranmyaku scoffed. "It'll be a cold day in hell when I trust you."

"The forecast calls for snow." Tsuine murmured to himself and Quinton prepared his spell.

**_"Seruuga!"_** Tsuine focused his magic on the sword in his hands. Engulfed in flame, he swung it around towards the girl whose seductive voice had just turned mean and cold. She leapt into the surrounding water, but the fire blade had created quite the scorch mark on her tail. Screaming in pain and anger, she lifted her tail from the water to see the blistering mark. She seemed as though she would be in pain, as though she was going to murder him, but instead purred and pulled herself partially out of the pool.

_"Ooh... You marked me... does that mean I'm yours? Or do you do this to all the mermaids?"_ Her sweet, seductive voice was back as she attempted to pull herself fully out of the water. To stop that from happening, he pushed the flat of the still-extremely-hot blade to the inside of her arm. She screamed in agony and that arm gave, causing her to smack her chin on the ground and slid into the water. A bubble of air--as well as a fair amount of blood came to the surface of the water.

She came to the surface again, her beautiful smile destroyed by several cracked and missing teeth. Tsuine grinned, showing his chipped tooth from the Shopping Day Incident (see chapter 10). She screamed at Tsuine, blood oozing from her lips and ruining the sound.

**_"Wishinnu!" _**A huge catlike creature with a fish's tail erupted from the water. Tsuine glanced at Quinton and shoved the tip of the blade deep into the ground as Quinton created a powerful light from the book.

**_"Sepur Serudo!" _**

Tsuine pulled the blade from the ground and put it in the air as a plume of fire erupted from it. It went outwards and upwards until it took the form of a smouldering Phoenix. Wing spread out to either side it soared into a losing battle. Meanwhile, Tsuine's glance to Shun and Hayate put something into motion.

**_"Reoku!"_** Hayate shouted and Shun sped over the heavy water and quickly broke the human's concentration, forcing the spell to stop. He also took the book from the bookkeeper's person and darted across he water before the effects of the spell could wear off. Asuru searched his person for a lighter, but remembered that they had a living one among them.

The Fire demon's phoenix devoured the mermaid girl, and the glancing ember bounced onto her book and lit it up into flames. As she was sobbing and disappearing, so was the pool of heavy water. Soon the entire pool evaporated and they were free to walk across.

"Trust me now?" Tsuine asked, resheathing the hot sword.

Ranmyaku shook her head. "Hell to the naw. But... thanks for the victory."

"...Fuck you with something hard, sharp, and sand papery."

* * *

And you thought this would be the chappy where they finally get along! What's wrong with you?

Review? Please? I make mermaid demon eat yer face!


	24. Rest in Pieces

**Chapter 24: Rest in Pieces**

"Rumi, relax. I doubt Zanna is screening this room." Rumi, whom had been working as Zanna's faithful assistant for almost the entirety of this operation, was standing in place as the next-from-the-last room. There was supposed to be another demon behind her in the line-up, but from a fit of rage that demon had been sent back to their home world by Zanna. The girl's patience had been wearing thin with the demon, whom finally pushed her over the edge by criticizing her methods of work. She had given no mercy and spared no time sending him back.

Rumi scoffed at the blond boy whom had styled his hair into a faux hawk today. He resembled something not out of place in a normal high school. "Please, Zanna has every room monitored. You're welcome to speak your mind about anything so long as it isn't insulting to her and her plans."

The boy wrinkled his nose and ran his fingers through his hair, only barely disrupting the gathering of hair in the middle. "So, what's the plan again?"

"You know the plan Ross. We just lead them straight to Zanna and let her get Nikumo-what-the-fuck-ever from the ice girl," She said, adjusting the fur on her vest as though she was trying to look presentable. the boy Rumi had called Ross seemed to let out a low breath of air, as though there were words inside him fighting to get out, but he couldn't let them. He didn't know what the temperamental lightning demon would do to punish him, but he could bet that it wasn't going to be anything good.

The group entered a thin, bottleneck room. It was a strategical thing--only one way back, only one way up. Tsuine seemed to become instantly aware of this as they were led through the missing demon's empty room and up the steps into Zanna's room. There had--at one point--been glass in the windows. But the glass had been showered to allow more light to enter her quarters for whatever reason. This appeared to have been done very recently, since the lightning demon's eyes seemed to still be adjusting to the new light.

"Welcome to my quarters," her voice bounced all around, off the uninsulated walls and became just a dull mix of sounds. "I am Zanna. I must congratulate you on making it this far, honestly, I didn't think you would get past Arcia. But It seems I was wrong so... welcome!" The cheerfulness in her voice was the same cheerfulness one used to comfort a dying person with little hope left. Ranmyaku felt as though someone had taken away all the air in the world, even though fresh gusts of unrelenting wind blared through the cracked window.

Zanna looked at all their faces and a pout snuck upon her own. "What? No spells? Alright, I guess I'll start then!"

**_"Zakeru!"_ **Dianna said, and a bolt of lightning erupted from the young girls palm. It travelled fast and seemed to bounce on and off the floor as the white plasma blast got closer and closer...

Suddenly, a cry of** _'Saguurashieldo'_ **echoed around the room. A light shield took the attack, protecting them all from the potential one hit wonder, and their savior was none other then Byron Von Stelkin. Mental celebrations were short lived, as the shield began to crack from all the abuse, and finally shattered, continuing on its course and hitting the boy,he and his twelve year old companion being tossed back several feet.

That seemed to start the battle. Asuru opened Ranmyaku's book and smiled, feeding it heart energy as he took air into his lungs for his spell. **_"Masugana Gikoru!"_ **He shouted, watching as he companion put her hands in front of her to prepare the giant ice ball. It resembled the ball at the end of a medieval flail, only on a larger scale with many more spikes. She released it, and it's speed was comparable to Ro-Ru's speed (see chapter 2) when using his spell.

Zanna's human, Dianna, cast the Zakeruga spell on the speeding ice ball. It tore through the spell with sheer momentum, and although a good amount of color gathered in its center, it was ultimately no match for the girl's lightning attack. The electricity still dancing between her fingertips, she leered at the others across from her as though they were pieces of meat.

Tsuine decided to charge at the girl, drawing his sword all the while. With a jumping leap he brought it down over the girl's head, but just like he remembered he did, her hand clamped onto the blade as it came down, forcing him to the ground. She loosened the grip on the sword as she felt him pull away. Sensing that he was slightly off-balance, she took a single step forward and smashed the heel of her palm into the fire demon's chin. Needless to say the attack lifted Tsuine off the ground as though he was virtually weightless, and found himself stunned at her strength.

Rumi watched from afar and was pouting. She was getting none of the action! How was that fair? But she kept her mental quarrels just there, in her mind. The sound of flapping wings alerted her to the fact that Koumori seemed to want to join the party again. The furry bat demon swooped into the chamber with Natsumi under his arms and Kit following not far behind. His haphazard darker side scoffed and tossed the limp girl through the air, caught by Hayate.

Silence fell all around the room as they drank in his appearance. Zanna made a 'come hither' gesture to the both of them and they emerged from the darkness. The temperature dropped almost to below zero and everyone, even Ranmyaku shivered.

The four demon partners in presence opened their books and sent heart energy to them as they began to shine in the light of their determination. Sunlight fell on Zanna's pale face, her purple eyes shone like amethysts and her teeth glinted like pearls. She looked dead at the ice demon Ranmyaku. She knew what she wanted was in her. And if it wasn't, an easy kill is always fun to come upon.

* * *

Say hello to Chapter 24! Yay!

All who think that RToA (Ranmyaku's Team of Awesomeness) is going to be slaughtered say aye!

Aye! :D

REVIEW


	25. Brago's Son?

**Chapter 25: Brago's Son?**

Finally, everyone was healed. Ai couldn't bring herself to ever use that spell again, ever. As Deming and Kurigari stood up from the onslaught and Jun looked at the pile of ashes that had once been Sachiriku's book, The reality hit that their team had shrunken by more than they bargained for. She closed the book and told them they should head up and join the others. Jun, however, was reluctant.

"What's wrong?" Ai asked, walking to her friend. She rarely ever saw Jun so... unhappy. This unhappy, brooding person couldn't be Jun, she reasoned with herself.

He looked to Ai and pulled his bandanna off his head to reveal hair cropped short. "It's just... whenever I try to help something like this always happens. Sachiriku is gone now. I... there's no reason for me to keep going.

"I mean, ever since I could remember its always been you and Asuru who got the spotlight. You and Asuru who got the good grades. Asuru, the athletic smarty from France, and Ai, the genius musician. What was I? Nothing but Jun the tag-along. Jun the moron. Jun the guy that makes you both seem even more amazing by comparison! Why can't I ever--" Jun was beginning to raise his voice, but Ai silenced him with her finger on his lips. He fumed silently for a few moments before Ai gave a response to what he friend had been feeling. To the jealousy that seemed to be plaguing him.

"Yes. Asuru the Soccer Jock. Ai the Piano Prodigy. But you're something too. You're Jun: the Best Damn Cheerleader in Japan." A smile graced Jun's lips and he nodded, following after Honzou and Deming whom had run ahead into Zanna's throne room.

**_"Teozakeru!"_**

**_"Kikuyo!"_**

Spells were flying all around the room, and unlike with the other shield, The tornado absorbed the attack, electrically charging it but not really doing anything besides. Zanna was amused by the power of the shield that he had made, and decided that hand to hand would be best for Shun. Meanwhile, Tsuine was having a seemingly good time fighting Koumori, even though the land to air difference put him at a slight disadvantage.

The Von Stelkin siblings seemed to be staring each other down, as though waiting for the other to make the first move. Even when it was clear that neither were going to attack, they didn't make a move.

"Rumi... what are you doing? Why are you working for Zanna?" Byron asked, holding his arms loosely, but opening and closing his hands rhythmically. The girl sighed and rolled her eyes, knowing that he was going to go there.

"'Rumi, why are you working for Zanna?' Blah, blah, blahbitty blah blah, malarky!" The girl said, stomping her foot. She tried to explain that she worked for Zanna because she wanted to. It was a way where she could lose herself in a good battle, one where good fights were easy to come by. Byron scowled a bit at her selfishness, but said nothing to her reasoning.

Deming and Ai picked people to help. It was six versus three, so each of the opposing demons would be double-teamed. Ai and Honzou, rather for old-times sake or because they thought they would be a good team up, joined Tsuine as he attacked Koumori, while Deming hustled to join Byron as he fought Rumi.

**Deming and Byron VS Rumi**

**_"Sahuu Eonuu!"_ **Ross shouted, and his demon lifted her hands up, as many small dark balls of energy fired out of her hand like an automatic. Unable to throw up a shield in time, it felt as though they were being pinched and torn by the little balls of energy. Panting, Deming lifted his hands for a spell of his own.

Kurigari, injured but not very much so, opened Deming's book.** _"Gigano Reisu!"_ **And a ball of gravity went swirling at the opponent. Rumi dodged quite easily, but suddenly became excited upon looking at Deming.

"You must Brago's son! I'm so excited that you're in the battle!"

Deming scratched the back of his head, confused at the girl's sudden emotional change. He admitted that he was indeed Brago's biological son, and that he took after his father almost completely in the way of spells. She began to bounce around in a fashion quite unbecoming for a ruler's candidate.

"Will you... will you please use Aian Gurabirei? I've always wanted to see that spell up close!" Rumi asked, her eyes twinkling.

Deming seemed to become severely confused at this point but shrugged, holding out his arm, and holding it steady with the other hand. Kurigari took in breath for the next spell and said, **_"Aian Gurabirei!"_ **The floor in front of them slammed down, pressured into the tile, creating a shallow crater. Rumi and Ross were both caught in the spell and although Rumi fought it, found that she could push against it enough to stand. Ross gave it a shot, and although the pressure on his shoulders made it difficult to breathe, they could both stand when Kurigari stopped the spell.

Rumi looked as though she had just entered the store of her dreams. "I've always dreamed of fighting you! Who said working for Zanna had no rewards?" She asked and prepared for another attack. Kurigari shifted herself a bit and Deming glanced to the other team.

"No matter what protect Kurigari for me."

Byron scoffed. "Ever hear of dodging? What is she, blind?"

"Yes."

Breath caught in their throats. Byron and Rumi and everyone else wondered how he could have worked with having a blind bookkeeper. But to that Byron agreed to make sure no attacks hit her, and Deming kicked off the ground to attack the girl in front of him.

* * *

Chapter 25! We're officially one-fourth of the way to 100! Whoopee!

Also, thanks to the people who have been loyally reviewing since my glorious return to powah.

Deming: Slave to Noah does not own Konjiki no Gash Bell nor Zatch Bell. Review, or I will Dioga Gurabidon your butt.

HEY ONLY I CAN THREATEN THE READERS.


	26. Sight is Overrated

**Chapter 26: Sight is Overrated**

Deming leapt into the air to fight Rumi, Byron's sister whom worked for Zanna and whom was apparently a fan of Brago, Deming's father. "Why do you adore my dad so much?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She responded gleefully. "Me and Brago both use gravity. He's like, my idol!" She threw out her arm in a punch which Deming caught in his hand, attempting to flip her over. He was met with success, but she didn't appear to have hurt herself in the least, seeing as she landed on her feet. She bounced up and down to keep limber, her hands balled into fists.

Deming snorted and spat, holding up his hands, ready for battle. the two focused solely on hand to hand combat, punches and kicks falling heavily on their bodies. Normally, Deming would say that it's not okay to attack females, but in this battle there was no place for kind chivalry. Both had disposed of the kid gloves and were attacking each other with every bit of might their forms could muster.

Rumi was enjoying the fight, and Deming seemed to just be getting agitated with the whole thing. Meanwhile, Kurigari stood beside Byron, whom finally mustered up the courage to ask.

"Were you born blind?"

She responded with a curt yes.

"How can you read spells if you're blind?"

She placed her hand on her heart. "Right here. I can't see Deming, but I can hear his voice and feel him here. I can see the book in my head. I can read the spells. And for a moment, a brief moment, I can see. I can see Deming and his attacks. I can finally have the only thing I've ever wanted... the only thing my parents couldn't give me."

Byron nodded at that and Kurigari began to feed her book heart energy. She seemed to have an almost inexhaustible amount of the stuff, and her inability to see made it that much easier for her to know exactly when to cast spells. It's almost as though she had the ability of Answer-Talker(1).

**_"Oruga Reisu!"_ **A spiral of purple energy suddenly shot from Demings hands, straight at Rumi, almost completely head on. The gravity demon was pushed back, panting gently. She was being worn down by Deming's endless attacks. He seemed to be getting stronger and faster with every attack instead of the reverse, which was normal. Not to mention that for some STUPID reason her bookkeeper wasn't calling any attacks.

As if sensing her thoughts, Ross started feeding the book heart energy. **_"Acuu Eonuu!"_ **A dense sphere of dark energy flew from her hand at Deming, whom attempted to dodge the attack, only to find that the dense sphere followed him around as he moved around to try and dodge. The younger gravity demon ran about the room, being ever-chased by the blast, and as Ross re-casted the spell over and over. There were soon a total of six spheres going after him.

He jumped into the air and caused one or two to slam into Koumori fighting in the air. The injured flying demon leered over at Rumi, as though blaming her for the attack. "Watch it! I'm your ally, remember?"

Deming grinned and ran at Zanna, jumping over her, and causing them to hit the young girl. When the smoke cleared, the lightning princess leered at the boy, the ripped part of her cloak the only sign that the attack had hit her. "Rumi!" She shouted, her voice echoing around the room. There was barely enough time for the older demon girl to turn before Dianna called out:

**_"Sagashu Zakeru!"_**

A whip of pure lightning flew through the air and wrapped around Rumi, sending a large electric shock through the spell and shocking Rumi yelling in agony. "You need to watch what spells you cast, understand?"

"Y-y-yes! I-I understand!" With that Zanna dispersed the attack, and turned to Deming, releasing a Zakeru to punish him for moving the spells towards her.

She gave him an angry look and merely said, "Go away. Stay in your own fight."

Deming snorted and returned to his fight with Rumi, whom was trying to push herself use from the gracious shot of Sagashu Zakeru. The male gravity demon stared down at her and held out his hand, preparing to attack.

**_"Aian Gurabirei!"_ **Rumi was crushed into the ground with her bookkeeper, only this time, try as she might she couldn't push herself up.

"Deming! She's my family, let me fight her." Deming turned to Byron whom had called out to him. The son of Brago snorted a bit and released her from the Aian Gurabirei's hold and went back to Kurigari, patting his shoulder.

"Fine time to want to tag in. She's all yours dude."

With that they switched places. Byron and his human stood in front of Deming and his own and the elder male held out his hands as though readying himself to protect someone or something. Before much could be implied by their stand off, Rumi prepared to defeat the Von Stelkin in front of her.

Before much could be assessed, Rumi darted forward to attack him, blocking the punch with crossed arms. She quickly switched between punching and kicking her family member on every bit of his body that was accessible to her hands or feet, She wasn't letting up at all, that is until Byron caught her leg and flung her back. Still stinging from Zanna's lightning attack and Deming's Aian Gurabirei, her feet gave from under her.

She pushed herself into standing. "Ross. Strongest combo." She murmured, and her bookkeeper fed heart energy into their book. Rumi's hands rose in front of her. "This ends now."

* * *

Muahaha, one of my famed cliffies!

Review, or there will be no new chapters!!!

That is so a threat. xD


	27. It's a Family Thing

**Chapter 27: It's a Family Thing**

Rumi's face looked etched in stone. Dark, serious, threatening--everything that was frightening about her was in her face, he eyes, the way she stares at her opponent, a cat giving its mouse dinner one final chance at freedom, one final chance to run away and hide in the walls. But the terrified mouse doesn't know that it has that chance, It doesn't realize that it's been posed.

**_"Gigaraashidorsuu!"_ **Ross called, before pushing more heart energy for the next spell. Uncanny senses told Deming that he had to move Kurigari and himself or the "Ultimate Combo" would be their killing combo as well. He dragged her behind one of the only intact pillars in the room, and as the light from their book shone brighter and brighter, they braced themselves for one helluva ride.

_**"Gravi Eonuu!" **_

A large disc was set on the ground, and almost instantly, everything began to move towards the center. It became a sort of black hole, sucking all the energy in the room, everyone, even her and her bookkeeper into the fray. Yells filled the room as the teams were sucked in. Zanna lifted her cloak, disrupting the energy and allowing her to remain in the same place with her and her human protected. With a call of Furafurizudo, Ranyaku's ice wall saved her and Shun. In not nearly as good shape, Honzou, Tsuine, Quinton and Ai were flying uncontrollably towards the disc. Even though Koumori was trying his best, he too was being sucked towards that single, destructive center.

Everyone was deafened by the scream of destruction.

When their shields went down, Tsuine and his group was unharmed, thanks to the wall of roots made by Honzou's Rutsu spell. Koumori was thoroughly bashed, his wings broken and blood seeping from his form. Kit, his human, had done well to protect his book. Rumi still stood, but Byron's book--in tatters--was steadily vanishing. Tsuine walked over to him, whom gave a weak smile.

"I took some books from my family library... you may be interested in them... I can't open them, oddly enough..." Byron said, handing over two books, both about three hundred pages long. On book was red with gold trimming, and the other was the same except it was primarily blue. They were bound shut with no visible way of opening them, but he gave them to his human for safe-keeping.

Zanna looked at them coldly, her eyes glazing over Rumi, then Koumori. That impulsive wretch ruined her plans, but she had other ways to achieve her ends. Other, darker, ways. She twirled her locks and smirked. Other, darker, ways.

**_Flashback_**

"Zanna, I've told you about the Baou?"

"Yes Father."

The two demons, so alike in appearance , being father and daughter, stood in the throne room. She held the rooster in her hands--her quivering, somewhat small hands. In her father's hands was the 101st Demon Book, the very one that had caused the downfall of her Uncle Gash--the one that held the very powerful Baou Zakeruga according to her father.

A smile marred his sinfully handsome features. "My dear, there is a way that you can have the power I was denied." She watched as his father tore that page from the book and added it seamlessly to the book she was to use. Shocked, but not at all upset, and excited, hungry look appeared on her face. She was grateful. "There is an ice demon, Ranmyaku Aisu. you must take the Nikumosuta one of two ways. One way, is to snatch her book and tear out the page. This will cause the book to deteriorate and she will return here."

"The other way, father?"

"Force her to use the spell and ingest the ink."

Grossed out, she thought the first option sounded much better. Thinking about it though, she realized that if she ingested it, it'd become an active part of her, supercharging all of her attacks, including Baou Zakeruga. She would become unbeatable.

**_End Flashback_**

A sneer made her features look positively demonic, and she pointed out Ranmyaku, who walked forward, afraid, but full of courage despite that. "Listen, little ice demon. You're going to fight me. If you win, I'll spare all your little friends. If I win, then I'll kill them all. Not send them back--kill them."

The ice demon's breath caught, and Tsuine's head snapped up. **"I want its power for my own." **

"Ranmyaku, no! Don't accept! No matter what happens, whether you win or lose, you're only going to doom us!" All heads turned to the fire demon, Ranmyaku's eyes full of contempt and anger, the eyes of Zanna immensely amused. Why had he ever tried to talk her out of it? Tsuine knew very well that she would never listen to him, even though it was much better that she do so. She was too stubborn and blinded by inbreed hatred to see that he was right on so many levels.

Ignoring him--giving him no sign of yes or no, not glorifying him or his demand with an answer, she lowered herself in a battle-ready stance. The fire demon looked over to Ai and Honzou for some reassurance. Knowing that the other was right, they tried to convince Ranmyaku of the same, but she went into a rant about how THEY were wrong, how THEY had befriended the enemy, and she suddenly demanded they pick a side. Shocked at this, they merely backed off. Ai's suspicions were confirmed: the ice demon was confused as to who the real enemy was.

* * *

**_Sorry. My muse has been horrible lately. But here it is, the long awaited chapter 27. Alright, I'll admit that I got lazy with how to defeat all of Zanna's forces, so I just made Rumi suck them into her little Gravity thing. Ranmyaku is blinded by inbred hatred. Tsk tsk tsk. WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE FINAL BATLE!? (of this arc, hehe.)_**


	28. Desperation

**Chapter 28: Desperation**

Unknowing of Zanna's truly sinister plans, Ranmyaku was walking right into her trap. None of the ice girl's spells were anything close to enough to strong enough to defeat the lightning demon in a fair fight, which was--unfortunately--the only way she COULD fight if she wanted to defeat the other girl. Zanna lifted her hand and excited tendril of lightning bounced from finger to finger.

**_"Zakeru!"_** Dianna shouted with actual feeling, and the lightning attack that bounded forth was one the likes that the group had never seen for an attack so week. Asuru attempted to throw up their ice wall, but even though the shield was there, it was shattered as like a rock being thrown against glass, throwing her into her bookkeeper.

The French-born boy rolled his demon off his body, groaning at the ripples of pain that tickled his form in the most unpleasant of ways.** _"M... Masugana Gikoru!"_**

Ranmyaku wasted no time in making her giant ice ball. Unimpressed, Zanna merely held out her hand and felt herself being pushed back a little by the force of the raging ice ball. With a scooping motion she lifted it over her head before hurling it back, spinning sickeningly fast. Ranmyaku dropped to the ground to avoid being hurt fatally buy her own attack, and the color drained from her face as the ice shattered and fell like powder on her head. Fear harassed her as something became painfully apparent.

_'I... I'm going to die...! She's... Zanna is going to kill me!'_

Of course, Zanna had no plans to kill Ranmyaku, not yet anyway--not until she got what she wanted. From what she could gather from the royal libraries, the beast within her DNA would only ruse if its she was in true-blue, life threatening danger. Of course, she didn't want to use all her strength in the beginning, especially since she was keeping Baou hidden as one of her trump cards.

So she'd wear her down, and if the Nikumosuta did not rear its inky black head, then she'd pull out the Baou as a last resort. No one would leave this castle alive unless she had what she wanted.

Dianna gave her attack some strength and read their weakest spell out, and it danced out towards her. Asuru shifted his book so it was under his body, and Ranmyaku jumped out of the way. Zanna gave a sinister smile, and was gone, just like that. Before she could register this, she was kicked clear across the room, beginning to cough and hack uncontrollably. Zanna's eyes were alight with excitement, like a child that was getting what they wanted for Christmas.

"Come on... the representative from the Aisu clan couldn't possibly be this weak!" Ranmyaku tried to stand and found herself slightly uncoordinated. Sensing this her human read out Ma Gikoru and attempted to smash the staff into the smaller girl, caught in her hand. Holding it firmly, she flipped the blue haired girl onto her back, earning herself another powerful kick.

Coughing loudly, she attempted to push herself up and found her limbs to be quiet weak. She was taking a beating and her body refused to fight back. This was a completely one-sided fight, and although the silver haired Princess was disappointed with the outcome, the quicker she got the monster the better off everyone else would be. Her sharp, shark-like teeth had to hold back a cackle. 'Better off'? She would destroy everyone who stood against her once she had that power.

Ai gasped and opened her book. She wanted desperately to help the young demon, but Zanna held up a pale hand. She stated that if Ai cast the spell it would be interfering, and everyone would die, as according to the deal between the two female fighters. Angry, Ai closed her book reluctantly.

Tsuine was mentally cursing Ranmyaku for being so foolish. He watched as she managed to get on her feet, her human called out spells desperately, wanting to help. In Asuru's mind he was also cursing Ranmyaku's naive, trusting nature. Zanna was _evil _didn't she understand that? and evil people were not ones to hold up their side of the bargain on anything. Even if there was a small glimmer of hope that they won, she would stand and use the last of her strength to destroy them. This, he knew and feared, was a lose-lose.

Still, he couldn't give Zanna the satisfaction of knowing he was backing out. **_"Gigano Gikoru!"_** Ranmyaku opened her mouth as thinner, sharper versions of Gikoru spewed forth, a barrage. Zanna's cloak rose to protect her, repelling the needles right back at the ice demon. Impaled by her own ice spires, she fell to her knees, angry and outmatched.

She hated to admit that Tsuine had been right. She should not have challenged Zeon's daughter (little did she know it was for a totally other reason) but she had, and now they were all going to die.

A frown graced her pale lightly pink lips as she watched her prey fall to the ground. This wasn't working. She had held back a lot, but the Nikumosuta had yet to show its face. Turning to her bookkeeper, with a snap of her fingers, she said "Do it," in her most commanding voice. Dianna turned to the very last pages of the book, and felt it light up.

**_"BAOU ZAKERUGA!"_**

The roaring dragon beast grew from her pale hand, perfectly white thanks to the nature of her strong lightning. Everyone could only watch in awe as King Gash's most powerful spell was being sent towards them, fueled by an overpowering need. Jaws spread wide as the lightning beast screamed, large sharp looking teeth occupied that mouth.

Ranmyaku's book glowed black.

Pulling it from under him, he flipped to a page where the spell was written in black instead of a shade of blue. Confused, he stared at the spell and wasted no time deciding, especially since the options were not at all confusing.

**_"Mosuta Nikuma!"_**

A smirk claimed Zanna's features.

She had won.

* * *

Dun dun dunnnn~ Cliff hanger, hanging from a cliff... AND THAT'S WHY HE'S CALLED CLIFF HANGER.

Asuru and Ranmyaku both have poor judgement. I wonder if they are infecting each other...


	29. Victory

**Chapter 28: Victory**

The white Baou Zakeruga spell collided with Ranmyaku's form, which was writhing and squirming, screaming in agony every few moments from the spell. It tore Asuru's and Shun's hearts to see her in such unbearable pain, but both understood what had to be done, so the blond-haired-green-eyed frenchman continued feeding it heart energy, even though he knew not what was happening.

Tsuine had to bite his lip so hard that it began to bleed. Did they even begin to comprehend how wrong they were? Did the thought even cross their minds that they were walking into a trap? A trap--no less--that was so freaking blatant, one would have to be a complete moron not to know it was a trap?

Smoke erupted and everyone held their breath. Standing was a form. It was Ranmyaku's height... It even looked like her. But her entire form had a tint of black save her eyes, which had gone fire-engine red. Zanna's own, purple eyes were alight with more excitement than ever before! This was exactly what she wanted, and she had gotten it exactly the way she wanted. She didn't want to have to share any glory with her entire team.--she wanted only the people who could stand up after taking al the battles, and she had it. Koumori and Rumi were loyal to her, and if she had only two loyal henchmen, then that was two more than how many she expected to have.

Ranmyaku took a step forward and Zanna matched them. One step at a time they got closer and closer to each other, until they were about a foot apart. the ice demon--controlled by an ink demon--swung her leg up to hit the other, which was barely caught in time. The pressure pushing against her arm was astounding, but there was more to come. Part of her leg below the knee became jet black and shiny, undulating like liquid. It seemed to stretch or shoot forth, shoving the princess back until she slammed into a wall. Ink had collected on her fingers and she put them in her mouth. She was disgusted by the taste, but the sweet tang of victory was sure to make it worthwhile.

Walking towards her possessed adversary, she watched as her ink leg retracted and returned to its normal shape and size. With a snarl, Zanna punched and kicked and attacked with an array of quick paced moves, all learned through years of training. When she pulled back, her form had gone lumpy and black, which was returning to its initial shape. More ink on her hands and shoes, she lapped it up off her fingers as though she was tasting a particularly delicious sauce.

**_"Teozakeru!"_** Dianna shouted, and a powerful blast of lighting burst forth from her hands. The Darkened Demon lifted her hands which took on their black liquid texture and they stretched, forming a large shield. Although it protected the form from the attack, she stumbled a little at the attack. The same spell that he defeated many mamodo in one fell swoop had only caused the beast to stumble a little bit. Zanna smiled and prepared to be attacked.

The ink beast pulled back her arm and threw it forward, becoming liquid. In a single, fluid movement, Zanna leapt over the plowing fist. Ranmyaku screamed in frustration, her mouth practically splitting her face in two.

"Come back you annoying bit of vermin!" She hissed in a voice not at all like her own. It was deep and scratched and sounded very odd coming from the ice demon female's mouth. Tsuine felt his Faian blood stir and boil at the sight of the beast, and found that he would soon have his chance. If he attacked _Ranmyaku _while she was like this, it would be like fighting on the lightning Princess's behalf. She would lose!

_'Technically, anyway..."_ He thought rather bitterly.

He snapped his fingers and Quinton began to read out a spell. **_"Seruuga!"_** He targeted his sword and watched the blade become engulfed in fire. Swinging with all his might, the disc of smoldering flames hit the Ink Demon, as it had not expected it. It shrieked and screamed in agony, eventually quieting once its inky body suffocated the flame.

It was eager to destroy the Faian. So eager that it soon got bored of Zanna. A blast of ink surrounded her, sealed her in a bubble of its possessed form. Zanna stayed calm and took a deep breath of air and drank the ink greedily, trying hard not to vomit out the precious black fluid. Ranmyaku set her eyes on the Fire Demon and screamed again, meaning to do the same to him, but the still-flame-engulfed sword sliced through the oncoming ink, causing her body to erupt in even more screams.

Asuru realized--at last--that this was not an enhancement spell. Something was seriously wrong with his demon, and he was frightened. He tried to stop casting the spell but he couldn't. Just like have Zanna drank the ink, the book drank his heart energy with vigor and unmistakable eagerness. He turned to Shun and nodded. The rules no longer applied--there were no rules to begin with. They had to stop Ranmyaku, but once again, he didn't know the true reason why.

Shun ran out to her. He shook her, talked to her, but the only response was a flustered scream and being roughly shoved out of the way. Meanwhile, where Asuru lay, he couldn't release the book... he was going to black out at this rate. Hayate intervened, ripping the book from his grip, forcing the spell to end.

The blackness faded from her form and she fell forward, weak and tired. Zanna was also freed from her prison. She coughed and hacked, but those soon gave way to a victorious cackle. Because Her hair was now jet black, her skin now had a grayish hue. Her father's cloak had been assailed by the ink as well, as were her shoes. And he eyes...

They were red.

She had succeeded in absorbing the power of the Nikumosuta, and her now-black lightning danced on her fingertips.

The bad guy had won.

* * *

Whewt whewt!

Only one or two chapters away from the end of the arc! Whoo hoo!

Zanna: About damn time we villains win! Review or die!


	30. Team

**Chapter 30: Team**

Zanna's new form and coloration made her resemblance to her father seemingly vanish. She didn't care though--what did resemblance matter in the grand scheme of things? In the end, the only thing that mattered was the power that the form held, not what the form looked like.

**"Thank you, Ranmyaku Aisu! I could never have achieved my ultimate form without your help! And now, the end is upon you and your friends. I'd like to say it was fun, but..."**

Ranmyaku, utterly confused about what was happening, looked around at her horrified teammates as Zanna opened her hand. **_"Zakeru!"_** Dianna said, and a shot of black lightning worthy of a Teozakeru flew towards the group. Yells of pain erupted, as almost everyone lay on the ground, in pain and defeated. The only ones standing were Tsuine, and Shun, both being smart enough or having the stamina to move out of the way.

Shun looked to Tsuine, whose face was contorted in a mask of anger. "Hey man... Just wanted to say you were right, we should have listened--"

"Grow as a person later, kick ass now."

"Um, right, Hayate!"

**_"Kikuyo Yoyo!_**" The albino shouted, and two buzz-saw like discs of wind formed to either side of him, and as he grabbed them and hurled them at Zanna, Tsuine was getting into horse stance and held his sword at one side of his body.

Zanna merely held up her now-greyish hands and caught the discs, throwing them like frisbees at the oncoming Tsuine. The red head barely dodged the attack in time, looking at a slice wound on his arm from the blades. **"Get that weak shit _outta_ here!"**

Shun looked over to Hayate and his companions for the battle. They weren't doing so well, that was for sure, and they would easily be defeated if things didn't change. The speed demon's partner briefly thought of his home, large city in the heart of Belgium. The dark overhead clouds and the young girl running around, waiting for her big brother Hayate and her big brother Shun to come back home.

The fire demon shifted his weight slightly and tried to calm his mind. His power would come much more easily if he was relaxed, that much was true. Allow the humans' emotions to reach fevering peaks, but the demon must always keep a level head. It was sort of ironic that the Ice Demons were the hot-heads and the Fire Demons were cool-minded.

Meanwhile, Honzou and Ai were beginning to stir. The green-clad demon groaned quietly, but went unnoticed by Zanna, as he held out his hands to Ramnyaku and Asuru.

**_"H-Heraruku..."_**

Ranmyaku and Asuru began to feel rejuvenated. Their wounds healed and their energy was replenished. The ice demon hurried to her feet, but Asuru was taking his sweet time getting on his feet. The boy was thinking up a strategy, but even though his mind was racing a hundred miles a minute, nothing useful was happening

"Hey, Tsuine! I wanted to say that I'm sorr--"

"Grow as a person later, kick ass NOW!" Both demons yelled at the ice girl, whom jumped at the sound of their yells, and saved her apologies and existential moments for a later time. After all, this was not the time for saying sorry and having character developing moments.

**"Oh great! Now it's three against one. However, I still don't think its fair."**

Ranmyaku rolled her eyes in an attempt to seem careless, but contrary, she was worried. Turning to Asuru, they nodded, and they knew that this would push their camaraderie to the very edge. They were playing it safe, and if there was one thing Ranmyaku was HORRIBLE at, it was playing it safe. So the girl threw herself into the fray.

**_"Furizudo!"_**

The blue haired girl's mouth opened wide and a freezing wind erupted forth. It caressed Zanna's form, freezing her into a large chunk of ice. Excited, she was about to go forth and share her victory with them, but The thought was banished with a single look from the Fire Demon. After her prior distrust lead to this disaster, she should probably trust his judgement.

The ice began to crack and shatter, and in that time, she ran to where her back would be. Kneeling down, the blond whispered their Gigano Gikoru spell, which pierced her back, even with the durability of her cloak. Light droplets of blood appeared, and Ranmyaku was shocked. Had they truly just wounded the princess of the Demon World? Just like that, the needles burst from her back, flying back at the ice demon whom promptly dodged.

Tsuine launched into another headstrong sword strike, which the young girl spun to dodge and kicked upward, coming in perfect contact with his gut. The Faian Heir had barely gotten out of the way before another group of Shun's buzz saws flew towards her. She tugged her human's arm and got her out of the way.

A sense of despondency fell upon the team, but they didn't want to give up. Not now, not ever, not yet. Ranmyaku felt her insides swirl and churn at the thought of Zeon daughter ascending the throne. She wasn't alone in the thought--Tsuine and Shun shared the thought as well. Together, as though they were one, the books began to glow. The humans couldn't exchange the information that they had new spells; the element of surprise is a battlers best weapon, after all.

The humans asked their demons if they were ready in their own special way, and the demons responded with an uncertain yes. They weren't sure of the spells' effects, but they had to trust. They had to.

With that, the room erupted in the call of a mere two words:

**_"Jyadon Ojiduu!"_**

**_

* * *

_**

Is anyone else sick of this Arc? I am. I can't believe We're already thirty chapters in! ZOMG! Alright, stay tuned for the epic conclusion (of this arc) in Loyalty, a Bond Between Friends!

...

Anyone else think I need to change that title?

Review!


	31. IMPORTANT UPDATE PLEASE READ!

**_EPIC IMPORTANT UPDATE OF IMPORTANTNESS!!!!!!11111one!!111eleventy-one!!111!!_**

_Alright everyone! This is Slave To Noah, AKA Slave. Now, I know how much you've loved the last thirty chapters, and I DON'T plan to end it anytime soon. This is a rather important update, so its best if you don't stop reading._

**First:**

_Your beloved Slave is entering High School. They're talking two hours of homework a night, and since I'm shooting for BGSU, I gotta start cracking down, even if College Applications are still a long time coming for me. Therefore, this and my other story will be updating much more slowly. Not like it was going at breakneck speeds before, right? xD_

**Second:**

_I have just recently realized that my mom's going to be kicking me off the computer once school starts. _

_Seems like this is all bad news right?_

_WRONG._

**Third:**

_I've taken up a writing project that will be taking up a lot of my time and muse. What is it?_

_**Loyalty, A Bond Between Friends: THE MOVIE**_

_..._

_You don't think you read that right? Well, here it is again:_

_**Loyalty, A Bond Between Friends: THE MOVIE**_

_YES YOU READ IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME_

_To commemorate the one year birthday of L:ABBF (it was on August 1st, by the way) I'm going to be writing the movie. I plan to have it done around Christmas and up by New Years or perhaps my birthday (January 8th). Of course, this may not be possible considering I'm supposed to have mid-terms that month... I dunno._

_Of course, considering I cannot draw, it'll be a fanfiction movie, but if I can get a dedicated team going (doubtful) then I will make the real movie. In the end, it may not even be really long._

_So right now the release date is lenient. _

_It's currently January 1, 2010._

_Teasers will come out soon!_

Luff ~ Slave


	32. El Fin and It's Not Over

_Alright. To make up for the last chapter, this one will be like, two chapters in one. You know, to keep the count right._

_**Chapter 31: El Fin?**_

**[Quick Re-cap: Tsuine, Shun, and Ranmyaku were on their own against Zanna, whom had succeeded in absorbing Ranmyaku's inner monster, and is now almost invincible. When they thought that it was the end, their books began to glow, all with the same spell! The mysterious _"Jyadon Ojiduu!"_]**

All three of them held their hands to either side of them. A burst of light, azure energy came forth from Shuns palms, making contact with Ranmyaku's arctic blue, mingling with Tsuine's white-hot fire red energy. At the three points in which the different energies mixed and fused, the two energies danced up in a dome-like shape, looking like a double helix in their trip to the single common point. Upon meeting there, they mixed and became one single beam.

The beam in question fell forth onto Zanna. At first it looked as though their attack wasn't doing anything. And when it faded away, it looked as though nothing had even happened. With a triumphant sneer, she held out her hand at her human's cry of 'Teozakeru'.

But something was wrong.

The black lightning came forth, but insanely weak. The electricity which was big and thick, and reminded them of tree trunks made of plasma, bounced out with the thickness of a tiny twig. They hadn't cause Zanna any damage, but she was severely weakened... at least... temporarily. Each face held the same menacing, excited smile. If they could finish her, bombarde her with attacks before her strength returned, then it would all be over.

But of course, as they all knew, fate loved to screw them over. (A/N: Or, more properly, I love to screw them over -evil smile-)

**_"Masugana Gikoru!"_**

The demon princess bounced out of the way, and was relieved to find that even though her strength had been severely depleted, she still had her speed. It was at moments like this she wished Rumi or Koumori wasn't knocked out, but they were, and she would have to make sure that Rumi got a worthy punishment for doing something so utterly foolish.

She had bounced higher than she thought, and was now floating peacefully in mid air. Peacefully for her adversaries of course, since she was now in a position where dodging would be impossible. Taking advantage of the situation, they began to power up their spells...

When Zanna felt a sudden surge of strength. She smirked and gave her human the command, and as another Teozakeru burst forward, they could see that her strength had already returned. How would they be able to get her into their tractor beam to use the attack again? It was Ranmyaku's idea, and she whispered it to the boys hurriedly... A little confused but willing to try, they decided to give the plan a shot.

**_"Sorru!"_** Hayate shouted loudly enough for everyone to hear. His punches and kicks, temporarily enhanced, assailed Zanna. Although she could easily block and parry most of his punches and kicks and blows, it sometimes fell on her body. She barely seemed to feel them, but some did indeed hit her. Shun continued his attack strategy until the spell ran out, and he backed away.

Quiton locked eyes with the albino and Tsuine sheathed his sword. **_"Serudo!"_** The man shouted, and his demon partner shot fireball after fireball towards their enemy, Zanna She lifted her dark cloak to protect herself, Asuru taking the initiative to use his own Gikoru spell. The two opposing elements attacked a single target--she had to start feeling some of the damage... she had to.

The two then backed off, allowing Shun to go forth an Sorru again. Just as the ice demon predicted, she was less apt to start defending herself--thrown into a loop from the hot/cold barrage. Shun landed a bunch more kicks and punches than from the beginning, only because of what Tsuine and Ranmyaku had done. But if they wanted to finish this, they had to weaken her to the point she couldn't fight back. Or, at least, not as well.

Scowling, Zanna turned to her human, whom had dutifully moved around during the onslaught, moving away from the attacks, keeping the book safe from harm. The princess had to give her human some props--at least she didn't stand around waiting to be told to move like other, useless, human partners. Flexing her fingers, she felt heart energy flow into her form, preparing for another attack...

She felt unmeasurable anger towards these annoyances now. They were weakening her and attacking her with weak-ass spells that wouldn't even hurt a baby demon. Who did they think they were fighting? Well, they wouldn't be able to pull anymore of that BS on her now... she thought darkly.

**_"Teozakeru!"_** Dianna shouted, and a large bolt of lightning shot forth from her hand, through the smoke they had kicked up...

She hadn't hit anything.

Looking around, she saw the same ring form around her as from before, and realized what had happened. The two demons had worked together to kick up some smoke, and the speed demon attacked her to make her think that was their only plan. Neither demon nor human able to see, they fired Teozakeru at nothing... nothing but smoke. She screamed in frustration as her power was drained, and the onslaught began.

Spells fired at her as though there was no tomorrow. Whenever her human was concerned, she dragged her out of the way, saving her and the book from harm. But she couldn't see at all sides--especially since they kept moving around. It was like attacking cockroaches. Finally she flew towards her minions, Dianna having taken minimal damage, but Zanna having sustained a lot from not being able to stop their spells with her own. A surge of power came over her, and she fired a Teozakeru.

Bathed in smoke, they tried to clear it away as soon as possible to make sure they didn't accidentally hit each other. As it cleared at last, they groaned in anger.

Zanna--not to mention Rumi and Koumori--was gone.

**_[Yes, Zanna retreated. Sucky ending but still :P]_**

End Chapter 31

**Chapter 32: It's Not Over**

They growled gently as they looked over the others. Ai and Honzou were getting up again, Deming and Kurigari pushing upwards against the ground. They had not been expecting Zanna to retreat--they had been expecting her to stand and fight. This might've been better--since they were almost completely drained of heart energy, their continuing to battle would only drain them to the point that even moving had become an impossible feat.

So they left the castle, battered and bruised. Shun and Hayate said their thanks, mentioning that they lived in Belgium if they ever wanted to visit. It was a shame though that they lived in Europe, so far from where the others were stationed in Japan. With a final farewell, they continued on their way to the airport going opposite directions. Ranmyaku in particular made a show of waving the two off until they vanished beyond the horizon.

So everyone returned to their homes in Mochinoki and other parts of Japan, their lives returning to as normal as they could ever hope to get. Ranmyaku got lost on a daily basis, Honzou grew things and showed them off to everyone, Juu slept in class and Ai got straight As. Everything was right with the world.

For a couple days anyway.

The third day after the end of the Zanna fight, all of Ranmyaku's allies got a videotape, including one ice demon that whom had thought that he had severed all ties with the ice demon. But hey, blood is thicker than water, right?

The tape wasn't a VHS tape, as those were rendered obsolete hundreds of years ago. It was something known as a Samcom Tape--a holographic program. It was pretty cheap to use and make, especially since you didn't need anything to play it--it played easily enough on its own. It opened into a cylindrical shape, a shaft of light blaring up from the base. Amidst the light was a form, which spoke and made gesticulations exactly like the original when it was recorded. It was timeless, and although the quality diminished with age, the Samcom could be reused and the quality could be restored.

When they opened it, a hologram of Zanna, dark and ink covered, appeared before them. She appeared rather amused, and they knew that this was nothing that they wanted to hear, They had hoped against all hope that something--anything!--had happened to her, but it seemed that fate was simply not on their side.

_Begin Message_

**_"Ranmyaku and foolish cohorts. As you can see, your plan to defeat me and stop my forces was only partially successful. I mean, look. Koumori and Rumi are completely okay."_**_ The screen flashed to the two of them, sitting back to back. They appeared tired, but no worse for wear. Both demons were donned in tattered, filthy rags, and although they were fine, they were in no fit state to really do anything. The screen returned to Zanna, whom was positively glowing in contrast to her minions. _**_"Don't you even dare think this is over. Mark my words, because I see some potential in you all. In fact, I want to extend an invitation that you will not refuse if you know what's good for you. Well... being the pack of morons you are I bet you will. But I want to give you a chance to prove I can be reasonable._**

**_"I would like to cordially invite you to join my side. With the Nikumosuta and Baou Zakeruga on my side, I am the strongest demon in the battle by far."_**_ She closed her red eyes and smiled, revealing her still-perfectly-white, shark teeth. _**_"Of course, I don't expect you to do this out of the goodness of your heart. If you accept, I promise you a place in the royal hierarchy. Think about it a little. Send back your response, and we'll see whom the smartest of you are." _**

_End Message_

Ranmyaku sneered as the message ended. Asuru had to re-watch it a few times before deciding that he was not going insane, and that he had indeed just seen what he thought he had just seen. Was Zanna... asking for help?

No matter. He pushed the erase button and began to record their response. And the other members of their team began to do the same, sending Zanna their answers to her question. But the one person, the one that had not even known Ranmyaku was on Earth, continued to rewatch the beginning of the video before confirming he was not crazy. He began to record his response as well.

**_Somewhere else..._**

Zanna was sitting in the chair, sipping from a ornately made cup. Some things never changed, no matter how many centuries went by. And that was that the British always enjoyed tea. She was rather calm, awaiting the responses from the others. Mail was so much faster these days--she had sent them away yesterday, their responses should be coming right about...

"Zanna, the others sent their responses..." Dianna said, plopping down the Samcoms that she had spent her hard-earned euros on. Turning each one on in turn, they all said no, except in a different way. save the very last one, which was an acceptance. She smiled darkly, and finished her cup before walking over to the Samcom.

She replayed the message over and over, watching his countenance for any signs of uncertainty or disloyalty. Finding none, she allowed her dark smile to grace her lips one more.

"Once Koumori is up to snuff, bring this one to me..." She said, the setting sunlight causing her eyes to light in the most sadistic and malevolent way. Some people may have looked at her defeat as the end, she would break, she would change. But no, Zanna would never do such a thing.

Because this was only the beginning.

**_[Gosh Darn! I can't seem to find the movie! Wish me luck on hunting it down! DX]_**


	33. Dead Boy's Poem Part 1

**Chapter 33: Dead Boy's Poem [Part 1]**

Ranmyaku had begun having the oddest dreams. They started out easily and simply--meeting a boy around Honzou's age. He called himself Bo, and said that was his name. So in the dreams, she called him Bo. When she awoke, she went about her day as normal, as though she had never had the dream in the first place. But when she crawled into bed the next night, she didn't dream of anything. It was only blackness. She awoke with a start, and found that it was midnight. Looking around, she saw Bo, standing on the other side of her vanity mirror.

Mute and silent, he wrote the following words on he reflective surface using only his hand. It came off red as blood.

**_"If you read this line, remember not the hand that wrote it  
Remember only the verse, song maker's cry the one without tears  
For I've given this its strength and it has become my only strength.  
Comforting home, mother's lap, chance for immortality  
where being wanted became a thrill I never knew  
The sweet piano writing down my life"_**

And he flickered away. Terrified, Ranmyaku threw off her covers and ran into Asuru's room, crying hysterically and telling him about what she had just witnessed. Of course, like all older people, he convinced her that it was only a dream and nothing more. With those words, he sent her back into her room again. And the words were gone from her vanity mirror, but now were scrawled roughly onto the walls of the room. She scurried into bed and covered herself with the covers, and she slept a very half sleep, always slightly awake, never fully asleep.

When she awoke, the words were gone. Bo stood beyond the mirror, but he vanished once she blinked.

The ice demon went through the day in a daze, dreading going back to sleep. Honzou, not being an adult, didn't exactly understand the problem she was facing, but thought that it was creepy all the same. "Well, I've got an idea! Why don't you spend the night at Ai's with me? Maybe he'll leave you alone."

"Great idea!" Ranmyaku said, perking right up. She finally acknowledged how tired she felt, not being able to get any sleep thanks to Bo's haunting.

Ai seemed totally all right with the idea, so she took Ranmyaku to her house so she could sleep there that night. Her father welcomed her, allowing her to share that room with Ai and Honzou. When she finally drifted to sleep, as though no time had passed at all, she awoke. A shadow was on the floor right beside where her head was. Turning her head quickly, she saw Bo staring into the room almost unseeingly, and then he glanced at her, causing her to jump in terror.

The apparition pressed his hand to the cool glass and entered the room, floating above Ai's bed. Ranmyaku was panting in terror, tears growing in her eyes. "Why?" She wailed. "Oh God, why? Why won't you leave me alone?"

Bo floated to the ground in front of Ranmyaku as she cried hysterically, and he placed a white hand over her blue hair. She looked at him through tear stained hands. The boy was smiling sadly. Now that she looked at him, he didn't seem human. He was a demon. He had pointy ears, and a matted tail. He looked partially wolf.

**_"I did not mean to frighten you."_** He said. The boy had a strong british accent, and he looked truly sad. Ranmyaku's tears began to slow, and she was not as frightened of the boy as she had been initially.

"Bo... what happened to you?"

**_"She killed me. I loved her and she killed me. She said I was in her way. She promised me she'd love me forever... and she killed me..."_**

Ranmyaku stood. "Who? Who killed you, Bo?" The clock began to chime, signaling that it was almost one in the morning. Bo looked towards the door and smiled sadly. He could no longer speak as he began to fade away. She clasped at his mist as he vanished, and instantly fell asleep as though unconscious.

* * *

"Hello?"

"Hayate, it's Ranmyaku, can I talk to Shun?"

"'Course." The albino put his hand over the speaker and turned to call for Shun. The boy had finished his shower not too long ago, and water dripped slowly from his green hair.

After drying his hair, he took the receiver. "Hello, Shun speaking."

"Shun, do you know anything about a demon named Bo?"

The speed demon chewed on the inside of his cheek, thinking. "Hm. Well, I know a demon by the name of Lunis Bo--"

"Did he have pointed dog ears and a matted tail?" Ranmyaku asked, getting excited. She didn't think it'd be this easy to track down the origin of her little poltergeist, whom she watched out of the corner of her eye. He flickered and faded, but he was there.

Shun didn't expect her to know something like that... "Well... Yeah, actually. But... he died before the battle for demon king began so I don't understand how you--"

Ranmyaku became impatient. "Yeah, yeah. Tell me: Did he die or was he killed?"

The green haired demon ran his fingers through his dripping hair. "He was killed. By his... well, they weren't exactly boyfriend and girlfriend... but they were something like that. He was killed by her."

Oh, she understood now. It was his girlfriend who murdered him, and she must be a part of the battle for Demon King, that's why he was on Earth! But... why did he choose to haunt her? "Who was his girlfriend? Who killed him?"

Shun was silent. "She... the person who killed him..."

"Yes?" Ranmyaku was so excited.

"...It was Zanna."

Ranmyaku turned to apparition whom merely stood, unseeing, and the receiver slipped from her hand and clacked against the floor. Shun chirruped repeatedly "Hello? Helllo?" but Ranmyaku couldn't answer. She was positively speechless. This boy had once been close to the Princess of the Demon World, the one that wanted them dead. And what's more...

She'd killed him.


	34. THE TRAILER FOR THA MOVIE

**Honzou is sitting in an airline chair. One can see his face but nothing else, and the plane is what is in the scene mostly. He isn't moving his lips as he talks--it is a voice over.**

Honzou

Don't you find it odd that the place we're going for the field trip is Hayate's hometown?

_Fades to black_

**The scene is totally black. All one hears is the voices of those speaking.**

Shun

For only a few moments, the sky turned purple. Ever since then, the demons have become frantic. They've been mysteriously vanishing.

Tsuine

Did it ever cross your mind that maybe they've just being sent back home?

Shun

(Pauses for a few moments. When he speaks again, it is with a thoughtful intonation.)

It did. But the odd thing is... the humans vanish too.

_Flashes to slightly transparent images of vacant houses. They are quite homey and even slightly untidy. The water is running in some cases, indicating that whomever lived there was taken away in a pretty big hurry_

**Ranmyaku is looking at someone. Her eyes widen**

Zanna

Don't worry. I have no interest in destroying you.

(She smirks and shows a mouth full of sharp sharklike teeth. They sparkle like pearls, in stark contrast to her now-grayish complexion)

ZANNA

But he might.

In this all-new adventure, allies and enemies will have to stand together to defeat an all new enemy.

Time.

_Fades in from black_

**Shows a flash to every one of their faces, each looking distressed before looking at someone covered in shadow. His staff has a clock embedded in it. All we see is an arm and two feet firmly on the ground**

Demming

(Speaking as the camera moves around, as it looks like their being spun through a funnel with all of time and space swirling in maniac disarray around them)

He's play with us like toys! If we keep going through time like this, we're going to disintegrate!

Koumori

If you have any bright ideas on how to defeat him, then I'm all ears.

Rumi

...Let's destroy his staff, without it, he can't manipulate time.

Asuru

If we break through the space-time funnel, it may drop us off at the right time, on Earth.

TSUINE

Yeah, or leave us to suffocate and die in the black expanse of space!

Ranmyaku

It's worth a shot.

_Everything Quiets down and fades to black_

**The figure bathed in shadow is speaking Towards the people, and his eyes are large and seemingly Irisless.**

???

Tick... tock... tick... tock...

Join Ranmyaku, Shun, Demming, Honzou, Zanna, Koumori, Rumi, and their humans for an adventure of epic proportions!

(Each time a name is said it goes to a close up of the character's face)

It's a fight for their lives, not just a fight for king.

(Cut to a scene with dinosaurs and then two opposing armies charging for one another. The demons and their humans examine their situation before clinging to each other and screaming bloody murder)

The movie fic based on the popular show fic...

LOYALTY; A BOND BETWEEN FRIENDS THA MOVIE

Coming soon to FFN.

Expected release date: Sometime in Febuary, maybe March.


	35. Secret Books

**Chapter XXXIV: The Secret Books**

Tsuine couldn't forget Byron's words before he vanished at the hands of his own sister. He had, with much determination, tried to open the books, but they wouldn't share their secrets with him. Oftentimes hours flew over his head as he tried to puzzle out the mysteries that rested in the pages of those books. Nothing he tried worked. The blue and silver book looked like it should have been able to open. There was nothing that looked like it could be a lock on it. The red book, however, had an old-style keyhole dead center. The odd thing was, this didn't appear until he touched the cover. That meant that it probably had something to do with his element being Fire. He needed Ranmyaku to touch the other one before he could try and figure out the way to open them both.

One night, thoroughly frustrated after not getting this after a couple weeks of trying, he grabbed the red book and shook it, one loose scrap of paper floating out from between the pages. He'd been sitting in Quinton's library, in a soft chintz armchair hunched over the book, just staring at it. Curiosity burning, he picked up the page and read it.

_How would you rearrange the letters in "new door" to make one word?_

The fire demon's head hit the table with a very audible thud. Not more riddles! He couldn't deal with anymore of those. But he had to learn the secrets of these books. If they were important enough that Byron would take them from his family's library, there had to be something to be learned here. So he wrote New Door on a piece of paper and rearranged them a thousand ways, but didn't create a word--not one that actually existed in any language anyway. But he was a Faian, and Faians were not quitters. They didn't know what it meant to give up.

It wasn't until the sun was rising that he thought he should give up. He hadn't made any progress. Maybe he should just give up. He rested his head on the table and drifted off to sleep. He'd deal with this after some much needed shut eye.

Of course, his bookkeeper came in with a loud hoopla as soon as his consciousness slipped away.

"Good morning my faithful companion!" He said brightly, leaning on the demon's head as he regarded the work he'd been up all night doing. Tsuine wondered, for perhaps the millionth time since he came to earth, why he had been paired up with such an unreasonable partner. Sure he listened to him on the field of battle, but when they were alone, Quinton acted like a total child.

"I've been up all night trying to make new door into one word. I haven't been successful so far."

Although it was certainly not what the demon wanted to hear at that moment, his bookkeeper began to laugh and he got an odd idea. Could he know the answer? Could he know what bizarre word could be made from new door?

He wished though, that the older human wouldn't lean on him while he answered the question. When his weight finally lifted he saw the two words new door and lines drawn from each letter, until they had created the phase one word. Whoa. He totally didn't see that one coming. But now that the fire demon had the answer, he was going to sleep this all off and figure it out that night.

With that, Tsuine passed out and became dead to the world as we know it.

Quinton gave a weak chuckle and left his partner to sleep in the library. All the deities real or fake knew that he deserved it after all that's happened. Now they could just sit back and relax, if only for a little while.

As soon as he thought this, the phone rang and the caller ID said that it was Asuru, Ranmyaku's bookkeeper. If they were calling them, then there was no way what was going on here could be good. If it was good, then the ice demon would persuade her human partner to keep it a secret from them. The Aisu girl was surprisingly petty like that.

It was Ranmyaku herself talking, when he picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

_"Hello. Quinton, can I talk to Tsuine?"_

"He's sleeping. I can take a message if you want." He responded to her, staring at the door to his library and imagining what Tsuine would say if he was on the phone. They'd probably argue each other into submission. Their family's rage towards each other had long since seeped into their skin. Even though they were working together, it was pbvious that they would turn on each other at the drop of a hat.

There was silence on the other end of the phone as Rammy contemplated this. _"Alright then. Are you sitting down for this one? You might wanna grab a chair."_

With that the ice demon explained what had happened. She explained about the ghost that had begun to haunt her and how it was actual Zanna's deceased boyfriend whom she killed. He was named Bo. The Ice demon went on to explain that she wanted to go and confront Zanna about it, but no one else wanted to go along with the plan. Shun would meet them in London, where Zanna was supposedly stationed, but if it was just the two of them there was no way they would survive. They needed more help.

"Alright. Count us in. I'm sure Tsuine would love to go with you guys. He especially wants to defeat the Nikomonsuta inside of Zanna."

Ranmyaku thanked Quinton for agreeing to come. Of course, he just needed to get Tsuine to go along with it. His guess was that his partner would be Gung Ho about the entire idea. Why not? It was a chance for revenge. It was also a chance to rush in blindly and get all their asses sent back to the mamodo world, but still.

Why shouldn't he go along with it?

* * *

BAM! New chapter. I'm going to put up a new poll soon... and update my other Zatch Bell Story...


	36. Planes

Ranmyaku was busy trying to find something new to put on, something actually comfortable to wear to defeat Zanna once and for all in. No matter what happened with Bo, no matter what she had to do to finally understand what had happened to the kind-hearted Koumori whom had helped them so shamelessly until they got to the lair of his master, no matter what happened, this would be the end. It had to be the end. All this fighting, all her friends were tired. Wrist deep in clothes, she pulled out the outfit that she had been wearing when she came here in the beginning. With a soft sigh, she put them on. Might as well go back the same way she had come.

"Ranmyaku!" Her human partner Asuru called to her. Brushing her fingers hastily through her long blue hair, she made her way down to see whay Asuru had wanted. Ai and Honzou were standing there, all smiles. At first Ranmyaku and Asuru were confused about their reasons for being there, but after a little explaining they said that they had decided to come along too. They also said that they had yet to fully get revenge on Zanna for making a fool of them all that time ago. "Are you sure about this Ai?" Asuru asked, watching her. He'd never admit this, but for all her womanly strength, Ai with her glasses and baggy sweater, along with leggings under a frillish skirt, she looked unfit to be in any sort of battle.

She shook her head. "I'm anything but sure. But since our only use is to heal, we're the only ones with a healing spell. So we'll heal until we're all out of energy."

Honzou only grinned and nodded. He wanted to be helpful, even though he didn't want to become the king. The plant demon didn't have what it took to be a ruler. The only thing he could do was support. He only followed, he didn't know what it was like to be in front for once. In fact, he didn't want his first experience leading others to be as a king. He would most likely just grind the kingdom into the ground with his heel.

The loud sound of a honking horn is what alerted them to the fact that Quinton and Tsuine were here. the four of them walked out into the yard, surprised that Quinton had a minivan instead of his normal car. When questioned about his choice, he'd said, with an air of nonchalance, that his normal car was currently in the shop for a well-needed tune up, and that this was a rental. "Tsuine had also told me to get a bigger car. He was saying that Rammy-chan would wind up invite random riff-raff off the street to help in our efforts.

"You're welcome." He stated coldly from his position in the passanger seat.

"'Random Riff-Raff', huh hothead?" The female ice demon looked clearly peeved at his statement about random riff-raff.

"Of course. I mean, the only people you've gathered into this little brigade of yours that actually helped us in some way was the boy with the blind rich human girl."

Honzou was moderately insulted that the male had completely forgotten about him, or had skipped over him on purpose because he had never done anything helpful. You know, besides healing everyone in their team at some point.

Riding to the airport, Quinton booked them first-class seats, because even though he was rich, he didn't own a jet or a helicopter. Poor Honzou however, was sandwiched between Ranmyaku and Tsuine, which might have been a futile attempt by the humans to keep them from fighting, but in all honesty it only made them argue over him, who simple slumped in his seat to minimalize his impact on the current argument.

In general though, the Faian only gave a rebuttal every now and again while he read the red book. As far as he could tell, it was a journal with a few pictures put inside every couple pages. It was the journal of a female fire demon, and he didn't understand what relevence this had to... _anything. _

Surprised, he looked up. "Oh, right... here, Ranmyaku, Byron gave this to me to give to you." He said softly, producing the blue book from the folds of his cloak.

Just as he thought, when her fingers touched the cover a heavy lock appeared dead center. In all the time and frustration it took him to shake his own book, she shook hers immediately and a little paper came out. She muttered to herself, reading from the paper that had fluttered from the pages of the book. After musing for a couple moments...

"A peculiar man."

The lock vanished and she stared reading curiously, leaving both of them to wonder what the heck had been written on the paper, what riddle she had just answered.

* * *

They touched down in London at gate 9, walking out and seeing Shun and Hayate waiting for them happily. Shun was dressed in jeans and a hoodie, radically different than anything she'd ever seen the other male wearing.

"Rammy-chaaan~" Shun said, running over to her and wrapping his arms around her waist, lifting her and spinning. "I have a feeling that this'll be the end. Please, Ranmyaku... give me a kiss?"

Ranmyaku laughed, probably thinking that he was kidding. That only caused Asuru to smile sadly and Hayate to sigh, almost as though he didn't care, even though he knew that Shun might be getting even worse things on the brain.

Tsuine watched this scene with an odd sense of apprehension. Curiously, he didn't know why he felt that feeling. He felt that the book he had replaced into his cloak would reveal the answers, he just had to read a little further. Just a little further...


	37. Rivalry

Waaah! I'm sorryyy! Dx Here's the next chapter...

* * *

Once they were at the hotel, they all regarded Bo with a grave sense of curiosity. After all, he was killed by his so-called girlfriend and had come to the human realm as a ghost. Not to mention that whatever reason that had caused him to come to the human world had also driven him to find Ranmyaku and stay around her. They wanted to know all that Bo could tell them, all that he knew.

But the young ghost, though he did not seem reluctant to share what he knew, still said nothing about it. Maybe he was frightened that Zanna was watching and would eliminate one more loose end from the equation, like she had so obviously done with the members of Chikara Z. The only purpose they had served was to defend Zanna for a fleeting moment so she could prepare for her overtaking of everything. So no one blamed him for simply sitting there like a statue and watching people who walked into his line of vision. The odd feeling they all got when they stood in that line of vision for too long prevented that from happening very much.

Not to mention they all had other things to occupy themselves with. Firstly, Ranmyaku and Tsune were busily reading their books, which to the best of their knowledges were nothing but journals. Tsune read faster than Ranmyaku did, and therefore had come to a very odd passage in his own journal. It spoke of a Faian female meeting a boy with ice blue hair, whom he could only assume was an Aisu male. The two had rose their weapons to fight to the death, as was the custom of when two of these warring clans met, but after exchanging a few blows it became clear that neither one of them really wanted to fight, so they put down their weapons.

Apparently the two watched each other for a few moments, and something clicked between them. Neither of them wanted to fight, so they decided that, together, they could build a bridge that connected the clans. After all, there was no real reason for the Aisu Clan and Faia Clan to hate each other. So they walked side by side into the forest to have fun and act like normal demons their age: hunting and gathering, since Faians were carnivores and Aisu demons largely did not eat meat.

Secondly, was the fact that Honzou and Ai were almost never around. Apparently they were going out to train more, but everyone was considerate enough not to bug them. Everyone knew that Honzou did not want to become king of the demon world, and, like good friends they would harass him until he told them why. Shun was also preoccupied, but mostly with his hair than with anyone else. Hayate had decided that if Shun, with all his perverted love of the other gender, needed to look manlier in order for them to like him more. This, of course, was the human's way of making fond memories with his demon, even though when everything was over his memories would be forever lost.

Asuru was having difficulty as well. He had gotten sick and was resting in bed, meaning that they had to hold off on their assault indefinitely. The French boy was needed to make the operation a success. There were only four of them after all, and Zanna had her two minions to fight back with. If they were going in to end Zanna, fighting with equal numbers would never work. The demon princess almost counted as three demons in her own right.

Deep into the darkness of their first night in London, Tsuine was reading. Everyone had already retired to bed, but Tsuine could not. He'd been feeling a bit of uneasiness at being so close to his clan's mission. Ending the Nikumosuta was what he'd been born to do, and the petty rivalry between his clan and the clan of the Nikumosuta's host was taking a backseat. As far as the redhead was concerned, this was his duty before such a thing as clans even existed. This was not only what he was meant to do, but also what his father and his father's father was meant to do.

So he picked up the journal and continued reading where he had stopped, the Faian female bonding with the Aisu male. The relationship between these two was one that more closely resembled childhood friends than bitter rivals. Perhaps that's what the female wanted...?

He continued reading, and what he read in the last few pages shocked him. It was almost enough to make the book fall from his quaking hands, and the only thing stopping that from happening was the steady hand he'd gained from training with the sword. His eyes were almost blank, and after sitting in complete silence he tucked the book into his cloak and pulled the covers up to his chin, forcing himself to fall into a pitiful, shallow sleep.

* * *

That morning Tsuine's sleep deepened and he ended up sleeping later than everyone else. In fact, when he finally opened his dark eyes, the only person in the room with him was Asuru. In order to keep themselves together, they had tried to split it up between boys and girls, but since there were only two girls, they ended up simply giving the girls one bed, the sick Asuru the other, and everyone else made due with the remaining space.

Memories of what he now knew haunted him, and since he could hear no sounds of water, he went to the bathroom to look at himself.

Morning Tsuine is not like regular old Tsuine. Morning Tsuine is more relaxed and harder to annoy. In fact, Morning Tsuine is rather likeable until he wakes himself up and remembers what he's here to do. Then he stops acting like your friend and acts more apathetic-like he's supposed to.

The Faian warrior looked at himself in the mirror. His hair that was usually spiky to the point of being a classified legal weapon was down and actually obeying the laws of gravity. Hard eyes that were dark as blackness were currently soft to the point of being kind, with dark shadows under them and spit crusted in his mouth. Tsuine wiped the spit away and shunted out of the bathroom. He was not a morning person, not at all. At that moment the door opened and the loudest, most annoying person he'd ever met came barreling into the hotel room. Ranmyaku came in and fell on the bed she shared with Ai, giggling like a crazy person.

"Aw! Look at Tsu-tsu! He's so cute!"

He tried, unsuccessfully, to glare.

Ranmyaku saw this and grinned, almost to the point that they switch places. Rammy was terrorizing and Tsuine was being terrorized.

"In his cute flame pajamas!"

The Faian warrior looked down at himself. He was wearing slightly oversized white pajamas with fire one them. He'd originally made a fuss about them and not wear them to bed, but grew to like them. Of course, the male would never tell _Ranmyaku _that. Tsuine reached up and ran his fingers through his flaming red hair. It was long compared to most guys, but short compared to Shun's. A shudder left him-he couldn't imagine letting his hair grow out that much.

But now Tsuine was more awake, and better equipped to respond to the ice demon's quips. "Well, princess, where have you been?"

Ranmyaku seemed to flush at that, and gave no answer. Tsuine seized what could be his only chance to make the bluenette leave him alone for the rest of their horrific stay in this room together.

"Oh my... you weren't with _Shun _were you? Getting it on, I assume? I thought Aisu Demons were supposed to save themselves for marriage-"

With a scream of "YOU PERVERTED PRICK!" the Aisu girl picked up the nearest throwable object (which happened to be a full bottle of lotion) and hurled it at his head. Even though he was sleepy he took the slight step to the right needed to avoid the object entirely, causing Ranmyaku to color in total rage. She jumped off the bed and stormed out.

All Tsuine could do was laugh. To drive it home he opened the door and shouted after her retreating figure: "You didn't deny it~" In a sing-song tone, causing the female to scream once more. Now he would either be left in peace of killed in his sleep.


	38. The Dawning

**Chapter XXXIX: The Dawning**

Zanna was sitting in a simple London Flat owned by her bookkeeper. When she had originally came here after fleeing the battle with those useless demons it has been covered with a thick layer of dust everywhere and covering everything. But Koumori's smaller, lighter half had proved his worth in that respect, cleaning and dusting and even cooking for the princess and her cohorts.

He even wore a little pink apron for Zanna's amusement.

Lately though, she wasn't feeling like herself. She didn't feel like scheming and she didn't want to train. A strange, alien lethargy had fallen over the princess, and she now had moments where she would stare at the walls, her violent eyes vacant and glassy, and she would look like a precious doll made of the most high quality china. To her cohorts it seemed as though the most powerful young warrior had passed into a strange depression.

"Lady Zanna has been acting very peculiar for the past week," Koumori observed as he dried his hands on the frilly pink apron. Despite Zanna's strange mood, he didn't dare take it off. She would wake from her trance and chew him up, spit him out, and make him work twice as hard for several hours. Though now he was mostly an errand boy since Ranmyaku and the others still hadn't come to challenge them.

"Our Lady must be exceedingly bored. She doesn't even have Hiekki to yell at or a weak demon team to amuse herself with." Rumi stated with the slightest hint of sadness and pity in her voice. She hated to see her mistress so unhappy. It had been a long time since she had punished either of them as well. That also disturbed them-especially since Koumori took the punishments as the way Zanna showed that she cared.

Koumori was not like Rumi. He didn't share her fanatic obsession with Zanna. His loyalty was one Gaines from fear-mongering and threats, not the kind of unconditional worship Rumi afforded the dark mistress. Moments like this he thought of Ranmyaku and Honzou and the others. How even though he had only been acting as a spy, he felt more in sync with them than he did with Zanna. He remembered their kind faces and how they accepted him without a single thought. Unlike other teams that had made him prove himself before letting him in, they had welcomed him instantly. 'I could see the goodness in your heart', Ranmyaku would explain later. 'You were a sweet, sad kid thrust into a violent, ruthless battle'.

Even now, in made him shiver how on point her analysis had been.

Dianna, who had been sitting in the kitchen helping herself to her secret stash of crisps, suddenly looked up and paused. She walked into the living room with Zanna and kneeled down. The tiny demon's eyes moved to look at her with alarming slowness.

"Zanna, I hate to wake you from your reverie, but I do believe it's time for your bath."

Zanna's eyes widened suddenly and she quickly glanced over to her two henchmen. "Rumi! Koumori! Come on. We're going to scout the area. Dianna, I'll take a rain check on that… bath…"

Internally, Dianna smiled. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Zanna was a young child, barely school age, with a very childish dislike of bathing more often than necessary. At least that would get her out of her funk. Well, the human hoped it did anyway. They were coming up to their final battle, and even if their opponents were weak and Zanna had a powerful ace in the hole, Dianna didn't want to think about what could possibly happen if they lost. Neither did Zanna. They both knew that Zeon would not accept anything less than total victory from his daughter. Dianna shuddered to think what ZANNA'S punishment would be for failing.

Diana plopped herself down on the couch and held out the bag for Ross who was sitting nearby. "Crisp?" She asked the boy. He reached over and helped himself before they leaned back and turned on some the C-screen and watched television.

* * *

The group was ready except Ai and Honzou. The missing team had gone out to train a little bit more before the confrontation. Compared to those two, it seemed everyone else in their little gang was slacking off.

They waited for several moments before Ai and Honzou finally walked up. They both looked determined and undeniably strong. It seemed that Tsuine's words had affected the little plant demon, especially since he had always known that he wasn't a huge help. He was dragging everyone else down, and knew that even by training his butt off he would still just barely reach everyone else's level of strength.

"About time you got here." Tsuine stated with a slightly cold air. He turned to Ranmyaku just in time to see her expression, which was reminiscent of her swallowing something incredibly bitter. He found himself staring at the ice demon, unable to look away. It felt like something important was staring him in the face.

"What?" she shouted loudly. Tsuine looked away with a roll of his eyes.

It was Honzou who broke the awkward silence that followed by talking to Bo. "Where is Zanna now?"

Bo stared at the green demon as though he has never seen him before before scratching his head and thought deeply. After several moments he started to float and pointed forward.

"It's that way… come on, I'll lead you." With that, the little poltergeist floated ahead with the small troup of demon's behind. There were only four of them compared to the eight that they had with them the last time, but Zanna's forces had gone from 8 to only 3. The deciding factor was the simple fact that Zanna was powerful. She counted for 4 demons on her own, not to mention she had the aid of the Nikumosuta.

Tsuine feared that this would be the end for all of them. Though not before he banished that creature once and for all to the gates of Oblivion and go down in history as the greatest Faian warrior ever.

Bo lead them forward, turning down streets and occasionally fading through kiosks and buildings in order to direct them further into the abandoned part of the London underground.

Shun looked around at the dilapidated and overgrown jumble of the Underground. It was out of use, though the near-silent hum of trains could be heard all around them. Zanna however, was nowhere to be found. "So this is it. The final showdown." Those simple words sent a shudder down their collective spines. This was it. Their last clash with good and evil.

"So. You all DID decide to show up."

Head turned in all directions, trying to find the owner of the voice, but she was nowhere to be found, not to mention the echoes that still bounced around muffled her authoritative voice. Bo seemed immediately entranced and drawn to the voice. He hovered out onto the tracks and paused. Lights flared up.

Zanna stood, balancing perfectly on a destroyed beam, her inky black hair flowing behind her and down her back. Bo floated to her, enslaved by her, completely submissive to his mistress.

"Bo darling… how happy I am you're here. I went through such trouble to get you back sweetie…"

Clearly Bo believed every word she said without second thought or question. Zanna smiled and began to stroke the young wolf demon between his ears. Although it left the team wondering if the young male could actually feel it, the contented look on his face at least showed that he was happy to be back in the presence of his mistress.

"What does the mistress ask of me?"


End file.
